The outcomes attributable to prenatal alcohol exposure for the children of women whose alcohol consumption averages seven to 14 drinks per week include deficits in growth, behavior, and neurocognition such as problems in arithmetic, language and memory; visual-spatial abilities; attention; and deficits in speed of information processing. Patterns of exposure known to place a fetus at greatest risk include binge drinking, defined as having five or more drinks at one time and drinking seven or more drinks per week.
Despite public health advisories and subsequent efforts to disseminate this information, including a Surgeon General's advisory in 1981, recent data indicate that significant numbers of women continue to drink during pregnancy, many in a high-risk manner that places the fetus at risk for a broad range of problems arising from prenatal alcohol exposure including fetal alcohol syndrome. For example, data suggest that rates of binge drinking and drinking seven or more drinks per week among both pregnant women and non-pregnant women of childbearing age have not declined in recent years. Many women who know they are pregnant report drinking at these levels.
In addition, recent analysis of obstetrical textbooks suggests that physicians may not be receiving adequate instruction in the dangers of prenatal alcohol exposure. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises against drinking at all during pregnancy. Nevertheless, only 24 percent of obstetrical textbooks published since 1990 recommended abstinence during pregnancy, despite 30 years of research since the first publications proposed a link between alcohol exposure and birth defects. Scientific evidence amassed in these decades has fortified the rationale for the original advisory against alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Continuing research has generated a wealth of new knowledge on the nature of fetal alcohol-induced injury, the underlying mechanisms of damage, concurrent risk factors, and the clinical distinction of alcohol-related deficits from other disorders.
Alcohol-related birth defects are completely preventable. A number of resources are available to assist healthcare and social services professionals in advising their patients to reduce and refrain from alcohol in pregnancy. These resources include the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH (www.niaaa.nih.gov), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/).
HHS Press Release
