Maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy is associated with risk of low birth weight: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis

Abstract

Considerable controversy exists regarding the relation between maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and risk of low birth weight (birth weight I ² 0.0%) for low intake (50 to 149 mg/day), 1.38 (1.18 to 1.62; I ² 31.9%) for moderate intake (150 to 349 mg/day), and 1.60 (1.24 to 2.08; I ² 65.8%) for high intake (≥350 mg/day). In the dose-response analysis, each 100-mg/day increment in maternal caffeine intake (around one cup of coffee) was associated with 13% (RR 1.13, 1.06 to 1.21) higher risk of low birth weight. The association persisted in strata defined according to various study characteristics. Moderate (-33 g, 95% CI -63 to -4; I ² 0.3%) and high (-69 g, 95% CI -102 to -35; I ² 0.0%) caffeine intakes were also associated with a significantly lower birth weight as compared with the reference category. Higher maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of delivering low birth weight infants. These findings support recommendations to restrict caffeine intake during pregnancy to low levels.