Maternal alcohol ingestion and blood cord IgE concentrations

Previous reports have implicated maternal ethanol ingestion as a cause of immunoglobulin abnormalities in children. We investigated the relationship between self-reported alcohol ingestion in 98 women during pregnancy and serum cord Immunoglobulin E (IgE). We found that mean cord IgE concentrations were significantly lower among newborns born to drinking mothers (0.15 IU/ml) than nondrinking mothers (0.27 IU/ml), p less than or equal to 0.05. The difference of serum cord IgE means remained significant among infants with a positive family history of allergic disease, 0.15 IU/ml for infants of drinking mothers and 0.40 IU/ml of nondrinking mothers. There was a significant trend for lower mean cord IgE with increasing ethanol ingestion (p less than or equal to 0.05). Maternal alcohol drinking should be considered a potential influence on cord blood IgE concentrations at birth.