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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Relationship between dysmorphic features and general cognitive function in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, arly View 13 November 2007


Prenatal alcohol exposure may adversely affect fetal development, causing growth restriction, distinctive craniofacial anomalies, and central nervous system dysfunction. The continuum of associated adverse fetal outcomes is most accurately termed fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

The purpose of this study was to further clarify the relationship between dysmorphic features and general cognitive capacity in a study on Finnish children with FASD.

Our results show a significant correlation between the total dysmorphology score and cognitive capacity was found, suggesting that children with more severe growth deficiency and dysmorphic features have more cognitive limitations. Birth measures of length and weight correlated with general cognitive capacity. Head circumference correlated only with Performance IQ.

These findings imply an inverse relationship between growth deficiency/dysmorphic features and cognitive function in children with FASD. Although the correlations are significant, the data suggest that in individual cases, the TDS cannot reliably predict cognitive function in later life.

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