Evaluation of caffeine consumption and effect during pregnancy among women in the UAE

Objective: To investigate the relationship between caffeine consumption among pregnant women in the UAE and spontaneous abortion and stillbirth. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional survey has been conducted on 97 pregnant ladies randomly selected from Al Ain city in the UAE. Only pregnant women with caffeine intake were included in the study. Results: The results showed that: 61.9% of women consumed coffee, 34% consumed tea, and 4.1% consumed soft drinks during pregnancy. 43% of women who consumed caffeine during pregnancy had at least one spontaneous abortion, 10.3% suffered from stillbirth and 17.5% gave birth to underweight babies. Cross tabulation between spontaneous abortion and caffeine consumption did not show high significance using Pearson Chi-Square for correlation (p-value 0.103), The likelihood ratio shows significant results (p-value 0.039). Conclusion: Providing comprehensive counselling for pregnant women is essential in order to prevent the negative impact of caffeine consumption.