Study Shows More Children Harmed by Drinking in Pregnancy Than Expected

Although drinking during pregnancy has long been considered taboo, new research suggests that as many as one in 20 U.S. children may have health or behavioral problems related to alcohol exposure before birth.

The study found that between 2.4 percent and 4.8 percent of children have some kind of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD.

"Knowing not to drink during pregnancy and not doing so are two different things," especially before a woman knows she is pregnant, said lead researcher Philip May, a professor of public health at the University of  North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He said the high prevalence of children
affected by drinking during pregnancy may be due to social pressures or
women's difficulty in changing their drinking habits.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders include fetal alcohol syndrome disorder
plus other conditions that include some, but not all, of the characteristics
of fetal alcohol syndrome, according to background information in the study.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most severe end of the spectrum, and children
with this condition have abnormal facial features, structural brain
abnormalities, growth problems and behavioral issues. Children on the less
severe end of the spectrum may have impairments in the ability to complete
tasks required to do well in school, or have behavioral issues, the study
noted.

May and his colleagues selected a nationally representative town in the
Midwest for the study. The town had an average annual alcohol consumption
rate about 14 percent higher than the rest of the United States. That
translated into roughly a liter of alcohol more per person per year,
according to the study authors.

The town had 32 schools with a total of more than 2,000 first-graders. About
70 percent of the youngsters' parents allowed their children to participate
in the study.

May's team identified first-graders who had a developmental problem or were
below the 25th percentile for height, weight or head circumference. Then the
researchers gave memory and thinking ("cognitive") tests, as well as
behavioral tests, to these children and to a comparison group of typically
developing first-graders.

The specially trained researchers also assessed the children for the
physical attributes of fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, which include small
eye openings, a smooth upper lip, a thin red border to the upper lip and
smaller heads, May said.

The researchers found that six to nine of every 1,000 children had fetal
alcohol syndrome. And, between 11 and 17 per 1,000 children had partial
fetal alcohol syndrome, according to the study.

These numbers are higher than in previous research, but that may be due to
the rigorous methods in the study, said Dr. Janet Williams, a professor of
pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

"FASD is an umbrella term covering the full spectrum of permanent lifelong
conditions, ranging from mild to severe, and encompassing a broad variety of
physical defects and cognitive, behavioral, emotional and adaptive
functioning deficits," Williams said. "As we have better methodology, we're
getting closer to the real prevalence, the real problem, and we need to stop
the root cause of the problem."

This study also identified factors that predicted a higher risk that a child would 
have an FASD. The longer it took a mother to learn she was pregnant, how frequently 
she drank three months before pregnancy, and the more alcohol the child's father 
drank, the more likely it was that the child would have an FASD, the study found.

"We simply don't know how much alcohol is 'safe' during pregnancy.  Therefore, we 
continue to recommend our patients avoid alcohol consumption during pregnancy or 
if they are actively trying to conceive," says Dr. Emily Wiebracht of Mt. Auburn OBGYN.

For additional information, visit mtauburnobgyn.com. 

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source:  www.health.usnews.com