HEAVY PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE WITH OR WITHOUT PHYSICAL FEATURES OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME LEADS TO IQ DEFICITS

Objective: To assess general intellectual functioning in children with histories of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure, with or without the fac ial features and growth deficiencies characteristic of fetal alcohol s yndrome (FAS). Design: Forty-seven alcohol-exposed children were recru ited on evaluation at a dysmorphology clinic and evaluated as part of a university research project using standard tests of IQ. Thirty-four of the alcohol-exposed patients met the traditional diagnostic criteri a for FAS. The other 13 alcohol-exposed children lacked both the patte rn of facial features and prenatal or postnatal growth deficiency char acteristic of the diagnosis. Results: Compared with normal control sub jects matched for age, sex, and ethnicity, both groups of alcohol-expo sed children displayed significant deficits in overall IQ measures and deficits on most of the subtest scores. Although those in the nondysm orphic group usually obtained marginally higher IQ scores than those i n the FAS group, few significant differences were found between the tw o alcohol-exposed groups. Conclusions: These results indicate that hig h levels of prenatal alcohol exposure are related to an increased risk for deficits in intellectual functioning and that these can occur in children without all of the physical features required for a diagnosis of FAS. They also emphasize the need for conducting a thorough histor y of prenatal alcohol exposure in children with intellectual deficits.