MEDSCAPE and Journal of American Medical Association

FETAL ALCOHOL DISORDERS MUCH MORE COMMON THAN PRIOR ESTIMATES                   Click here for article.

FASD IS HIGHER THAN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

 Medscape is the leading online global destination for physicians and healthcare professionals worldwide, offering the latest medical news and expert perspectives; essential point-of-care drug and disease information; and relevant professional education and CME.

In absolute terms, the authors diagnosed FASD in 222 children in the current study among 6054 who were screened for growth, development, or both.               Yet only 2 of those participants had received a previous FASD diagnosis. For the analysis, Dr. May and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study of first-graders in public and private elementary schools in four communities across the United States, located in the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain area, the Southeast, and the Pacific Southwest.              The children were recruited across two academic years between  November 15, 2010, and July 12, 2016, yielding a total of 8 independent samples.  The finding that only two of 222 children had already been diagnosed with FASD indicates that    a universal diagnostic approach needs to be accepted or developed," the editorialists add. "Ideally, novel and reliable biomarkers for detecting fetal alcohol effects will be identified, which could have significant implications for intervention and therapeutic services.

Findings  In this cross-sectional study of 13 146 first-grade children in 4 regions of the United States surveyed between 2010 and 2016, the most conservative prevalence estimate for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders ranged from 11.3 to 50.0 per 1000 children.                                       Using a weighted approach, the estimated prevalence was 31.1 to 98.5 per 1000 children.

 In comparison, in 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders at 14.6 per 1000 children, or about 1.5%, the authors note. Click here for the JAMA analysis article.  Journal of American Medical Association