Cerebral Palsy and Alcohol Consumption during Pregnancy: Is There a Connection?

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a clinically identifiable diagnosis, consisting of pre- and/or postnatal growth retardation (below the third percentile), characteristic facial features, including a thin upper lip, indistinct philtrum and short palpebral fissures (two standard deviations below normal for age), and neurobehavioral abnormalities (Abel, 1998; Jones et al., 1973; Plant, 1987; Sokol et al., 2003).

Although FAS is the leading known cause of mental retardation in the USA (Abel and Sokol, 1986), brain injury involving milder forms of cognitive dysfunction, and more subtle and complex patterns of neurological impairment, occur in ∼30–40% of children born to heavy drinkers, with or without the classic diagnostic features of FAS (Koren et al., 2003; Mattson et al., 1997). 

These neurodevelopmental disorders and other wide-ranging physical and behavioral problems occurring in conjunction with or in the absence of classic FAS features, are now subsumed under the broader umbrella term, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). 

Many of these alcohol-related neurological impairments, e.g. hypotonia, clumsiness, unsteady gait, fine motor impairment, poor eye-hand coordination (Abel, 1998; Aronson et al., 1985; Barr et al., 1990; Jones et al., 1973; Marcus, 1987), stiff muscles and muscle spasms characterized as ‘spasticity’ (Beattie et al., 1983) are also hallmarks of cerebral palsy(CP; Lin, 2003). Despite these commonalities, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and  > > > >

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