Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

Description3

Studies: A historical and research perspective of FAS3

Statistics4

The Physical Effects of FAS5

Causes and Symptoms5

Diagnosis6

Prevention and treatment6

Conclusion6

References7

Abstract

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a set or pattern of birth defects occurring in a child whose mother consumed alcohol during the pregnancy. It is characterized by various learning, growth and behavioral retardations or disabilities.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Introduction

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) refers to is set of birth defects, of clinical abnormalities that occur during embryogenesis, stages following immediately after conception because of alcohol consumption during pregnancy (Thompson, et al, 2004). It is a preventable pattern of learning, growth and behavioral problems in children whose mother's intake alcohol while they were pregnant (http://go.galegroup.com).

Discussion

Description

Pregnant Women are advised not to consume alcohol. In the 19th and 20th centuries, extensive studies were carried out on children born to mothers who consumed alcohol during pregnancy. The consumption of alcohol was not considered a serious risk and alcohol wasn't considered as a teratogen until the study was conducted in 1973. During 1970s, concerns alleviated regarding effects of toxins during pregnancy. In addition to cigarette smoking and malnutrition, researchers, in 1973, discovered the effects of prenatal exposure, and formulated term fetal alcohol syndrome to explain disabilities in children born to alcoholic mothers. Since 1973, numerous studies were carried out to determine its lifelong effects. It is now universally accepted that exposure of prenatal alcohol results in permanent behavioral and neurological abnormalities in a child (http://go.galegroup.com).

Studies: A historical and research perspective of FAS

In 1974, United States carried out a study and compared the children born to 23 alcoholic mothers to the offspring of 46 mothers who refrained from alcohol intake. All of them possessed same characteristics with respect to age, geographic region, marital status, socioeconomic group and race. Researchers found out that, by the age of seven, children of alcoholic mothers got lower grades in spelling tests, math, and reading and earned lower IQ scores than children of non alcoholic mothers. Smaller heights and head circumference and reduced body weight were also noticed (http://www.fetalalcoholsyndrome.org).

The same year, Russian study revealed that siblings born after the mothers became alcoholics exhibited serious abnormalities in comparison to children born before the mother became an alcoholic. Out of these twenty-three children, 14 were found to be mentally retarded. Another study in Berlin, in 1982, demonstrated that distractibility; hyperactivity and, eating, speech and sleeping disorders were also caused by FAS. A study in 1974 studied and observed subjects until the age of 11. They found out that children of mothers who were low risk or who simply drank "socially" (less than a drink a day after conceiving) lacked in attention, memory, reaction time, intelligence, behavior and learning capability. It was evident that the severity of disabilities was far more in children of alcoholic mothers who consumed alcohol throughout their pregnancy (http://go.galegroup.com).

A study in 1988 validated the previous studies and concluded that the youngest child would be affected most adversely than the older children of an alcoholic ...