Preventable Prenatal Alcohol Exposure

"We are more confident now [that] Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [FASD] can happen to anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status."
"Based on the large number of children who received a comprehensive assessment for FASD, we clearly show the scope of the problem, and the need for greater awareness to prevent alcohol use during pregnancy."  
"The negative effects of alcohol consumption on the fetus likely occurred before the mothers knew they were pregnant."  
Dr. Svetlana Popova, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

One of the risk groups is actually professional women who binge drink."
"It's easy to keep at a distance and say, 'That's not me -- it relates only to those in poverty and despair', but that's just not the case with FASD. It's an equal opportunity brain injury."
"Look at the prevalence of alcohol -- it's not just in the low income areas, alcohol is consumed by all strata of society."
"So in tackling FASD it actually means tackling the bigger problem of 'let's get together and have a drink', which is part of our culture."
Deborah Goodman, director, Child Welfare Institute, Children's Aid Society of Toronto

"I'm glad to see we're getting past the 'why should we do this research' to the 'we need to do this research' stage."
Dr. Kaitlyn McLachlan, professor, University of Guelph

A new report found up to three per cent of Canadians could have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.   Ian Kucerak/Edmonton Sun

Dr. Popova  of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, estimates that public resources dedicated to Canadians with FASD, inclusive of educational, medical and legal costs represented an $1.8-billion investment of need for the 2013 year, a figure that could conceivably be reduced with the formulation of effective treatments that do not now exist in the public sphere, according to Dr. McLachlan, who studies prison populations for FASD.

A newly released report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health of which Dr. Popova was the lead author has steeply increased the estimate of FASD prevalence in Canada. A survey in the Greater Toronto region of 2,555 seven-to-nine-year-old children, representing one of the largest sample sizes in a Canadian study, and the first that encompasses Canada's diverse population makeup, produced the data that resulted in the survey results.

Formerly such studies on FASD focused on narrow population groups, such as children in care. Many children with FASD, points out Dr. Popova, are misdiagnosed or have never been diagnosed. Her team of researchers was comprised of leading geneticists, psychologists and pediatricians, each of whom assessed each student independently to arrive at their conclusions.Their mothers filled out questionnaires respecting alcohol consumption.



Given that it is a well-known fact that in pregnancy no amount of alcohol is considered to be safe for the developing fetus, Dr. Popova and others of her team feel the stigma of drinking through pregnancy may have resulted in some of the women failing to accurately report alcohol intake, let alone taking part in the survey to begin with. Of the 173 mothers interviewed, most said they stopped consuming alcohol once they realized they were pregnant. 

Despite which, around ten percent of the mothers with a child diagnosed with FASD responded that they had simply continued to drink through their pregnancy. Previous FASD estimates in the general population hovered around one percent.The results of this survey by Dr. Popova and her colleagues point to FASD likely being more common than the autism spectrum disorders affecting 1.5 to two percent of young Canadians.

And nor -- did the research conclude -- does the FASD risk remain confined to marginalized groups within society. According to Deborah Goodman of the Child Welfare Institute, children as young as twelve should be educated in the potential consequences of alcohol consumption. In addition, more strenuous efforts to convince adults of the harm done to children through pregnancy and exposure to alcohol should be mounted.



Dr. Popova points out that depending on factors such as the amount of alcohol a fetus is exposed to, genetic inheritance from both parents along with environmental influences, the severity of prenatal alcohol exposure can be determined. The most severe form of the disorder is fetal alcohol syndrome which can include growth deficits, coordination difficulties, visual motor complications, serious developmental delays, attention deficit and hyperactivity, while the mildest disorder on the spectrum may also cause behavioural and cognitive difficulties.

To avoid any alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder it is imperative that women understand that no amount of alcohol whatever should be used, even just prior to conception, let alone during the pregnancy period. Of children suspected of having FASD studied by Dr. Popova's team, 14 percent qualified. The majority of the children, representing 75 percent, reflected the milder alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder profile.