Fact checked byRichard Smith

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November 23, 2022
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Alcohol consumption in pregnancy delays fetal brain development

Fact checked byRichard Smith
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Drinking any amount of alcohol during pregnancy was associated with changes and delays in fetal brain development, according to data presented at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder occurs as an underestimated condition in relatively large numbers of individuals with a frequency in the single-digit percent range in the United States and European populations,” Patric Kiesnast, MD, a PhD student at the Medical University of Vienna, told Healio. “Even the consumption of small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can have serious consequences for the development and the entire life of the child. In our study, we aimed to shed light on the consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure on morphological fetal brain development.”

Drinking during pregnancy was associated with delays in fetal brain development. Source: Adobe Stock
Drinking during pregnancy was associated with delays in fetal brain development. Source: Adobe Stock

Kiesnast and colleagues examined the MRI scans of 24 fetuses (gestational age, 22 to 36 weeks) that were exposed to alcohol. The level of alcohol exposure was determined through mothers’ anonymous responses to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and the T-ACE Screening Tool.

Fetuses exposed to alcohol had lower fetal total maturation scores compared with age-matched controls. Alcohol-exposed fetuses also had a shallower right superior temporal sulcus, which is associated with social cognition, audiovisual integration and language perception, according to a press release.

Patric Kiesnast, MD
Patric Kiesnast

“Surprisingly, we also found slight changes in delay in fetal brain development in cases where the pregnant women consumed only small amounts of alcohol — less than one drink per week,” Kiesnast said.

Delays in fetal brain development may be related to delayed myelination and less distinct gyrification in the frontal and occipital lobes, according to the release.

The findings support current guidance on alcohol use during pregnancy.

“Our findings strongly indicate the neuronal effects of alcohol exposure on fetal brain development,” Kiesnast said. “We are working on a follow-up study to examine the postnatal course in those children in whom we have detected structural changes by prenatal MRI.”