The associations of cola intake with adverse birth outcomes among pregnant women after assisted reproductive technology treatment and women naturally conceived: a birth cohort study

Abstract

The influence of cola intake on birth outcomes is unclear. This study sought to describe and compare the associations between cola intake and adverse birth outcomes among women following assisted reproductive technology (ART) and women spontaneously conceived (SC). Participants (736 ART women and 1,270 SC women) were from the Chinese National Birth Cohort collected in Anhui province. Cola intake was assessed by self-reported questionnaires at each trimester. Outcome measures including preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW) were extracted from medical records. The association between cola intake during pregnancy and PTB was found using multivariable log-binomial regression in combined ART and SC women. Separately, for ART women, cola intake during pregnancy increased the risk of PTB (risk ratios were 2.10, 1.65, and 1.81 for all three trimesters, respectively, all p < 0.05), and cola intake in the 1st trimester increased the risk of LWB (risk ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 1.29 to 5.16). Cola intake during pregnancy was not associated with PTB or LBW for SC women. Our findings indicate a detrimental effect of cola intake during pregnancy on birth outcomes for ART women. Thus, avoidance of cola intake should be counselled by medical doctors in women prescribed with ART treatment.

Keywords:

• Drinking behaviour
• assisted reproductive technology
• beverages
• food intake

Acknowledgements

Not applicable

Animal studies

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Authors’ contributions

SC and RH contributed to data collection, analysis and interpretation of data and drafted manuscript; XZ and GC contributed to analysis and interpretation of data and critical revision of manuscript; CL, HG, XX and HX contributed to data collection and quality control; FT and YC: project conception and study design; XP: project conception and study design and interpretation of data and critical revision of manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the funding requirement but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Human rights statements and informed consent

All research procedures were carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Anhui Medical University (20160270). All participants provided written informed consent.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

XP received a research grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-82000399); GC received a research grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-82103933); CL received a research grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-82173532); HF received the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2700604). All the authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest.