What About Fetal Alcohol Exposure?

Abstract

Comments on an article by K J. O’Donnell et al. (see record [rid]2017-25341-003[/rid]). The authors overjoyed because we thought this was indication that our field was finally getting a leg up on prevention. Although the thesis of the review was directionally correct (i.e., the quality of fetal growth and development predicting the risk for a range of non communicable, chronic illnesses), the review missed one of the most obvious causes of these problems: fetal alcohol exposure. We appreciated the discussion that fetal growth predicts risk for later psychopathology, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but missing was one of the most common causes of low birth weight and pre maturity: fetal alcohol exposure. To the authors’ credit, they did briefly mention that children born small were likely to be born to mothers with high-risk lifestyles that include increased alcohol consumption. However, our study revealed that the vast majority of mothers who were caring for adult children with ND-PAE engaged only in social drinking before they realized they were pregnant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)