As many as one in 10 children in the United States have some type of disability due to their mother’s drinking during pregnancy, according to a new study led by the University of California, San Diego.
“Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders we think are the most common cause of neurobehavioral problems in children worldwide,” Christina Chambers, Ph. D., Professor of Pediatrics, UC San Diego said.
The study looked at 6,000 first graders in four different U.S. Regions: the Midwest, Southeast, Rocky Mountains and Pacific Southwest, which included San Diego.
The researchers sampled the students for two academic years from 2010 to 2016.
Investigators examined the children’s health and interviewed mothers, as well as close relatives.
Conservative estimates ranged up to 5 percent of U.S. children having a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
On a weighted scale, the study found that in some communities, up to 10 percent of first graders were affected. That rate is higher than the number of children identified with autism spectrum disorder, which as of 2012 was 1 in 68 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Local
“The comparison is really important because it tells us that there's a disorder that is not uncommon, something that should be raised in terms of the public health agenda,” Chambers said, “If it is this common as we’ve demonstrated then it needs to be on the public health agenda with a high priority. This is 100% preventable.”
The CDC recommends pregnant women abstain from alcohol use, as no known amount has been proven to be safe at any point during pregnancy.
Still, the lead researcher of the study maintains that the message is not to make women feel guilty or embarrassed, rather, to bring awareness to the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
“I think the most important thing to think about first is, you’re not alone. It is extremely common. We know most women don’t plan pregnancy,” Chambers said. “It’s just human nature as mothers that we want to search our soul to think if my child is having difficulty in school, could this be something I did? We’re hoping that’s not the message. “
Chambers recommends women have open and honest conversations with pediatricians if alcohol was used during pregnancy. She says that way, your child’s physician has more information to work with if any disabilities present themselves.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders range from fetal alcohol syndrome, which is the most severe form causing brain damage and physical deformities to mild disabilities such as behavioral and learning issues along with lower-than-normal weight and height.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
