College - Author 1

College of Science and Mathematics

Department - Author 1

Statistics Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Statistics

Date

12-2012

Primary Advisor

Rebecca Ottesen

Abstract/Summary

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy is harmful to the fetus, and can lead to serious alcohol related developmental birth defects. Utilizing prenatal screening, such as the 4P’s Plus© screening tool, during a woman’s first prenatal doctors visit can help educate women and reduce continued alcohol use during pregnancy. Currently the CDC reports that 1 in 13 women in the US drink alcohol while pregnant compared to local reports that 1 in 3 women in San Luis Obispo County continue to drink alcohol during pregnancy. A primary concern for many local county health care experts and organizations is to raise awareness that pregnant women should completely abstain from drinking alcohol at all times during pregnancy. While any substance abuse during pregnancy is alarming, the biggest concern among health officials in San Luis Obispo County is alcohol use during pregnancy due to the high rate of women in this county who continue to drink alcohol while pregnant. The purpose of this analysis was to gain insight into the risk of perinatal drinking for San Luis Obispo women, by investigating possible risk factors associated with drinking alcohol while pregnant.

What led me to this project was my desire to assist the local community by turning health data into usable knowledge, as well as my aspiration to gain statistical consulting experience while working with a large real-life data set.

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