Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are the spectrum of conditions caused by parental alcohol use during pregnancy that affects the world population’s health (Lange et al., 2017). Meanwhile, FASDs are the number one cause of preventable developmental disabilities globally and, at the same time, they are the leading cause of development delay in North America, hardly fully diagnosed (Hoyme et al., 2016; Bell et al., 2016). FASDs are a heterogenous group of conditions, and the individuals with one experience health disparities and stigma. Nevertheless, there is an evident positive tendency in research addressing the issue and therapy applied.
First, these conditions have several prominent aspects that sometimes appear mild, but they can also be quite severe. One could name low body weight, small head size, poor coordination and memory, problems with hearing and vision as well as heart, bones, and kidneys, and abnormal facial features such as smooth philtrum, thin upper lip, and small palpebral fissures (CDC, 2020). Moreover, among the signs and symptoms CDC (2020) names difficulty with attention, learning and intellectual disabilities, hence, speech and language delays and poor reasoning and judgment skills. Due to such a variety of prominent aspects, FASDs pose a challenge to the medical community in diagnosing them.
Analyzing the scale of the problem through statistics, one could notice that in the USA, alcohol consumption among the women of childbearing age is different from state to state (CDC, 2020). As for the global perspective, the U.S. is not included in the countries with the highest prevalence of FASDs which are South Africa, Croatia, Ireland, Italy, and Belarus (Lange et al., 2017). However, the latest studies show that the number of children who was not formally diagnosed were left out of the count, and the number of cases may be ten times higher than assumed (May et al., 2018). Even though the academic community does not entirely understand the scale of the issue, FASDs appear to be an extremely rampant problem threatening the health of the global population.
The problem becomes even more urgent due to health disparities that individuals with FASDs and their parents face in the public health system. The prevalent stigma blames mothers for the children’s condition and anticipates life trajectories for people with FASDs (Bell et al., 2016). Such stigmatization, based on lack of knowledge on the issue, puts a negative impact on diagnostic practices and awareness campaigns. Moreover, there is discrimination of those affected by this spectrum of conditions (Bell et al., 2016) and their mothers who appear to be even more stigmatized (Corrigan et al., 2018). It challenges the academic community to push the public in overcoming the existing prejudice towards individuals with FASDs and their families in order to increase their emotional health and quality of treatment.
As mentioned before, FASDs are believed to be the most preventable cause of congenital disabilities and developmental disabilities. According to National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (2020), its prevention includes, for instance, education of all the groups that can affect choices of women at childbearing age: students, medical and health practitioners. The National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (2020) has been implementing the practice of screening the females for alcohol problems. There is not much information on complementary therapy. However, alternative therapies such as biofeedback, vitamins and herbal supplements, and, for instance, animal-assisted therapy are widely used (CDC, 2020). Nevertheless, fighting FASDs lies most importantly in prevention.
The academic community keeps on digging into the problem. One direction of studies examines alcohol consumption among pregnant women or females of childbearing age. For instance, according to Denny et al. (2019), about 30% of pregnant women “engage in binge drinking.” Others expand academic knowledge on the influence of alcohol on the development of FASDs (Hagan et al., 2016). Another essential group of scholars to be mentioned is the one addressing the issue of public awareness of FASDs and their perception. To name some, Bell et al. (2016) defines the nature of stigmatization of FASDs while Eguigaray et al. (2016) analyze the role of new media in this process. Therefore, studies on the problem are developed in several directions, which raises public and academic awareness of the phenomenon and contributes to its prevention.
The last aspect to be discussed is the pathopsychological effects of stress experienced by individuals with FASDs. Parenting stress appears to be one of the main challenges to say nothing about the fact that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is sometimes caused by it (Moore, E. & Riley, E., 2016). As for the evidence-based FASDs interventions, recently, academic interest in this sphere has been growing. Not only do programs work with pre-school children, but they also include the school-aged and even older (Petrenko & Alto, 2017). The activities vary from parents’ training and education to nutrition and medication (Petrenko & Alto, 2017). As a result, Coaching Family Program claims to decrease caregiver stress (Petrenko & Alto, 2017). Acknowledgment of the problem and such programs appear to be an undoubtedly positive tendency in the public health policy towards the ones suffering from FASDs and their families.
To conclude, FASDs are a complex spectrum of conditions that affects children’s physical and cognitive development. These diseases are wide-spread in different regions of the world; however, European countries dominate the top-5 list. Children with FASDs and their families experience stigmatization that is partially the reason for their stress. The awareness campaigns and females’ alcohol problem testing appear to be the leading solutions besides alternative therapies. Academic interest in the problem is growing, which increases the number of intervention problems that assist families in many ways, including overcoming stress related to the FASDs of their children.
References
Bell, E., Andrew, G., Pietro, N., Chudley, A., Reynolds, J. & Racine, E. (2016). It’s a shame! Stigma against fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Examining the ethical implications for public health practices and policies. Public Health Ethics, 9(1), 65 – 77.
Corrigan, P., Shah, B., Lara, J., Mitchell, K., Simmes, D. & Jones, K. (2018). Addressing the public health concerns of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Impact of stigma and health literacy. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 185, 266 – 270.
CDC (2020). Basics about FASDs. CDC. Web.
Denny, C., Acero, C., Naiami, T. & Kim, S. (2019). Consumption of alcohol beverages and binge drinking among pregnant women aged 18 – 44 years – United States, 2015 – 2017. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(16), 365 – 368.
Eguigaray, I., Scholz, B. and Giorgi, C. (2016). Sympathy, shame, and few solutions: News media portrayals of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Midwifery, 40, 49 – 54.
Hagan, J. F., Balachova, T., Bertrand, J., Chasnoff, I., Dang, E., Fernandez-Baca, D., Kable, J., Kosofsky, B., Senturias, J., Singh, N., Sloane, M., Weitzmar, C. & Zubler, J. (2016). Neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. Pediatrics, 138(4), 1 – 17.
Hoyme, H. G., Kalberg, W., Elliot, A., Blankenship, J., Buckley, D., Marais, A.-S., Manning, M., Robinson, L., Adam, M., Abdul-Rahman, O., Jewett, T., Coles, C., Chambers C., Jones, K., Adhams, C., Shah, P., Charness, M., Warren, K. & May, P. (2016). Updates clinical guidelines on diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 138(2), 1 – 18.
Lange, S., Probst, Gmel, G., C., Rehm, J., Burd, L. & Popova S. (2017). Global prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder among children and youth. JAMA Pediatr, 171(10), 948 – 956.
May, P., Chambers, C. & Kalberg, O. (2018) Prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in 4 US communities. JAMA, 319(5), 474 – 482.
Moore, E. & Riley, E. (2016). What happens when children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder become adults? Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 2(3), 219 – 227.
Petrenko, C. & Alto, M. (2017). Interventions in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: An international perspective. European Journal of Medical Genetics, 60(1), 79 – 91.