Open AccessIs TWEAK a valid screening questionnaire to identify alcohol risk drinkers among pregnant women in Denmark?
Author(s) -
Præstegaard Camilla,
Kesmodel Pia S.,
Kesmodel Ulrik S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.1111/aogs.13314
Subject(s) - medicine , odds ratio , confidence interval , pregnancy , binge drinking , danish , obstetrics , odds , risk assessment , demography , environmental health , poison control , injury prevention , logistic regression , sociology , linguistics , genetics , philosophy , computer security , computer science , biology
Abstract Introduction Identification of pregnant alcohol risk drinkers is crucial to prevent adverse birth outcomes. The TWEAK screening instrument has shown promising results for identifying risk drinkers. However, as the effectiveness of the screening questionnaire has only been investigated among American women with mainly low socioeconomic status, we aimed to investigate the ability of TWEAK to identify alcohol risk drinkers among pregnant Danish women. Material and methods During 2000, Danish‐speaking women referred to the Midwife Center at Aarhus University Hospital ( n = 1554) and Fredericia Hospital ( n = 499) for routine antenatal care were invited to participate in the study at their first visit. The women were interviewed about their periconceptional and current drinking habits including average weekly alcohol consumption and binge drinking. Additionally, the women were also asked the questions related to the TWEAK questionnaire. Results We found that the sensitivity of TWEAK to identify periconceptional risk drinking was quite low, but its ability to identify risk drinkers during pregnancy was marginally higher. Our results suggested that older age (odds ratio 1.46, 95% confidence interval 0.95–2.23), current smoking (odds ratio 2.33, 95% confidence interval 1.63–3.33), being single (odds ratio 2.38, 95% confidence interval 1.38–4.11) and a TWEAK score with a cut‐off score of ≥1 (odds ratio 2.75, 95% confidence interval 2.02–3.76) increased the risk of high‐risk drinking during pregnancy. Conclusions In a Danish setting, TWEAK does not seem as an optimal screening tool to identify periconceptional risk drinkers but it may be useful in identifying high‐risk drinking during pregnancy.