Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: Long-Term Effects to the Child

Prenatal alcohol exposure may cause persistent developmental disorders. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) refers to the most serious impairment caused by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Growth restriction and physical malformations like craniofacial anomalies, and congenital anomalies of the organs as well as complex neuropsychological and psychopathological disorders are among the FAS - phenotypic characteristics. Associated with the intricate brain-organic damage are cognitive and socio emotional disorders which appear even when physical deformities are non-existent (partial FAS (pFAS)/Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE)). Those disorders are extremely burdensome for the affected persons and their social environment. The neurotoxic encephalopathic modifications caused by intrauterine alcohol exposure are irreversible. In the issue, experience has shown that different forms of supervision are indispensable, even in adult patients. The entirety of alcohol related disorders in the child (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)) are 100% preventable when the expectant mother abstains from alcohol during pregnancy completely.