Nearly all cases of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) identified in prospective epidemiological studies have been conducted in the United States of America. The very high incidence rate for FAS in the USA and the relatively low rate in other countries does not correspond to measures of alcohol consumption. By analogy with the 'French paradox', we have termed the high rate of FAS in the USA coupled w...

Prenatal exposure to alcohol (ethanol) results in a continuum of physical, neurological, behavioral, and learning defects collectively grouped under the heading Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [4] (FAS) was first defined in 1973 as a condition characterized by preand postnatal growth deficiencies, facial abnormalities, and defects of the central nervous system [5]...

Since the term was coined about 40 years ago, fetal alcohol syndrome has slowly become recognized as a public health issue. Alicestine October reports from South Africa's Western Cape province, which has the highest reported rate in the world.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) – a condition caused by chronic maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy – is important both in terms of its prevalence and its effects: it is estimated to be the commonest non-inherited cause of learning disability. Diagnosis is based on the presence of characteristic facial dysmorphism, postnatal growth retardation and functional or structural central nervous...

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is characterized by a variety of physical and behavioral traits that result from maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Features of FAS include prenatal or postnatal growth deficiency, abnormal facial features, and central nervous system deficits. CDC's Birth Defects Monitoring Program (BDMP)--a national program to monitor congenital malformations--has colle...