PB CPD Online e-learning site
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
British Journal of Psychiatry Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Psychiatric Bulletin (2006) 30: 470. doi: 10.1192/pb.30.12.470-b
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mukherjee, R. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Turk, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Mukherjee, R. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Turk, J.
Psychiatric Bulletin (2006) 30: 470
© 2006 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Correspondence

Smoking and substance misuse in pregnant women with mental illness

Raja A. S. Mukherjee, Consultant Psychiatrist

Surrey Border Partnership Trust and Honorary Lecturer, St George’s, Univeristy of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, email: rmukherj{at}sgul.ac.uk

Jeremy Turk, Professor of Academic Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Division of Clinical Developmental Sciences, St George’s, University of London

Shah & Howard (Psychiatric Bulletin, August 2006, 30, 294–297) investigated smoking and substance misuse in pregnant women with mental illness. We are concerned about the interpretation of their data and the lack of adequate accounting for confounding factors.

Our recent review highlighted that the timing and level of alcohol consumption in pregnancy was important to outcome (Mukherjee et al, 2006) but this was not taken into account by Shah & Howard. It would have been better to divide the alcohol consumption group into no alcohol, previous alcohol and ongoing alcohol consumption in order to exclude it as a confounding effect. Since 61% of the population has been shown to drink during pregnancy, and there is a large underestimate of consumption, it is a risk factor that must be adequately excluded.

This publication potentially challenges data emerging from international literature. Here the small numbers in some of the subgroups, combined with the failure to control adequately for the important risk factor that is alcohol, means that an otherwise important piece of research will have to be interpreted with caution.

References

MUKHERJEE, R. A. S., TURK, J. & HOLLINS, S. (2006) Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: an overview. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99, 298 –302.[Free Full Text]





This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mukherjee, R. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Turk, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Mukherjee, R. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Turk, J.

HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
British Journal of Psychiatry Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals