Foetal alcohol syndrome

Abstract

Foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the combination of growth retardation, neurological impairment and abnormal facies shown by some infants born to alcoholic women. It seems likely that FAS only indicates a small proportion of the total damage inflicted on the foetus by maternal drinking. Levels of alcohol consumption below the equivalent of 30 ml per day of absolute alcohol probably do not have a significant effect on the foetus. But there is an increased incidence of either growth retardation or behavioural and congenital abnormalities amongst the infants of women who drink heavily in pregnancy but who are not alcoholic. Such children are sometimes described as showing foetal alcohol effects and such effects are probably commoner than complete FAS. The way in which alcohol damages the foetus is unknown. Genetic and nutritional factors in mother or child may determine the response to alcohol. Smoking appears to potentiate the effects of alcohol on the foetus. Drugs may also alter the foetal response to alcohol. The prevalence of children damaged by maternal drinking is impossible to estimate. Foetal alcohol effects overlap with many other congenital and developmental abnormalities. FAS is more common than 1 in 2500 births in Liverpool and may even approach the incidence of 1 or 2 cases per 1000 births seen in U.S.A. and Scandinavia.