PRENATAL ALCOHOL AND OFFSPRING DEVELOPMENT - THE FIRST 14 YEARS

This report summarizes findings from a prospective longitudinal study of the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on a birth cohort of 500 offspring selected from 1529 consecutive pregnant women in prenatal care by mid-pregnancy at two representative community hospitals. Effects of prenatal alcohol observable on size measures at birth were insignificant after 8 months. Morphometric analysis of facial features identified effects only at the very highest alcohol exposure levels. By contrast, dose-dependent effects on neurobehavioral function from birth to 14 years have been established using partial least squares (PLS) methods jointly analysing multiple measures of both alcohol dose and outcome. Particularly salient effects included problems with attention, speed of information processing, and learning problems, especially arithmetic.