1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-3-72-a 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-3-9-12 Seizure Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Fetal Alcohol Syndrome http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 09 1989 01 08 2016 3 9 72 72 Copyright: © 1989 The Author(s) 1989 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Prenatal exposure to alcohol: effect on infant growth and morphologic characteristics

The relationship between prenatal maternal alcohol use and growth and morphologic abnormalities in the offspring of 650 women studied prospectively is reported from the School of Medicine and Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Uuniversity of Pittsburgh, PA.

 Morphologic Abnormalities Fetal Alcoholic Effects Physical Anomalies

The relationship between prenatal maternal alcohol use and growth and morphologic abnormalities in the offspring of 650 women studied prospectively is reported from the School of Medicine and Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Uuniversity of Pittsburgh, PA. Low birth weight, decreased head circumference and length, and an increased rate of fetal alcoholic effects were all found to be significantly correlated with exposure to alcohol during the first two months of the first trimester. The average amounts of alcohol consumed in the first trimester for women who were delivered of infants with no, one, or multiple minor physical anomalies were 0.67, 0.98, and 1.07 drinks per day, respectively (P=0.5). The corresponding average daily volumes for mothers of babies exhibiting no, one, or multiple fetal alcohol effects were 0.69, 0.85, and 1.28 (P=0.13). The time of greatest impact of drinking was in the early part of the first trimester. [1]

COMMENT. Data from this study have also demonstrated an effect of alcohol use on the sleep electroencephalographic patterns of newborns and on growth at eight months of age [2]. This study identifies and emphasizes the importance of exposure to alcohol early in the first trimester as a cause of intrauterine growth retardation and/or morphologic abnormalities in newborn infants. The infant is also at risk if mother drinks alcohol during the breast-feeding period.

 Day NL Jasperse D Richardson G Robles N Sambamoorthi U Taylor P Prenatal exposure to alcohol: effect on infant growth and morphologic characteristics Pediatrics 1989 Sep 84 3 536 541 2771556 Scher MS Richardson GA Coble PA Day NL Stoffer DS The effects of prenatal alcohol and marijuana exposure: disturbances in neonatal sleep cycling and arousal Pediatr Res 1988 Jul 24 1 101 105 10.1203/00006450-198807000-00023 3412843