Publication trends in fetal alcohol, tobacco and narcotic effects

The rate of increase in publications dealing with pregnancy and three types of drugs--alcohol, tobacco and narcotics--was compared for the years 1973-1983 using Medline as literature source. The absolute number of publications for each of the three drug types per year was obtained and was used to calculate the percentage of articles for that type. The absolute number of articles on alcohol and on alcohol and pregnancy increased faster than the comparable absolute rates for the other two. The percentage of articles on pregnancy and alcohol, relative to all articles on alcohol, increased at a faster rate than that for narcotics, but not for tobacco articles.