Introduction: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders--shedding light on an unseen disability.

摘要

Over 35 years ago, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) was identified in the United States as a major birth defect resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) [Jones and Smith, 1973]. Since that time, a significant body of research has documented the teratogenic effects of alcohol in both animal and human studies. Indeed, PAE is considered to be the leading cause of developmental disabilities of known etiology. Although there have been significant advances in research on the effects of PAE over the last 3 decades, there remains a surprising amount of misinformation regarding the teratogenic effects of alcohol among both professionals and the public, such as the beliefs that some types of alcohol are safe to consume during pregnancy, that there is no benefit to an individual affected by PAE or their family in making a diagnosis of FAS, or that intervention for affected individuals is futile because "the damage has already been done."