Cognitive changes may be only sign of fetal alcohol exposure

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/nioc-ccm072012.php

Public release date: 23-Jul-2012
Contact: Robert Bock or Marianne Glass Miller
NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Cognitive changes may be only sign of fetal alcohol exposure
Distinct facial features not seen in many cases, NIH study finds

Most children exposed to high levels of alcohol in the womb do not develop the distinct facial features seen in fetal alcohol syndrome, but instead show signs of abnormal intellectual or behavioral development, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and researchers in Chile.

These abnormalities of the nervous system involved language delays, hyperactivity, attention deficits or intellectual delays. The researchers used the term s functional neurologic impairment to describe these abnormalities.. The study authors documented an abnormality in one of these areas in about 44 percent of children whose mothers drank four or more drinks per day during pregnancy. In contrast, abnormal facial features were present in about 17 percent of alcohol exposed children.

Fetal alcohol syndrome refers to a pattern of birth defects found in children of mothers who consumed alcohol during pregnancy. These involve a characteristic pattern of facial abnormalities, growth retardation, and brain damage. Neurological and physical differences seen in children exposed to alcohol prenatally— but who do not have the full pattern of birth defects seen in fetal alcohol syndrome—are classified as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

"Our concern is that in the absence of the distinctive facial features, health care providers evaluating children with any of these functional neurological impairments might miss their history of fetal alcohol exposure," said Devon Kuehn, M.D., of the Epidemiology Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NIH institute involved in the study. "As a result, children might not be referred for appropriate treatment and services."