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Construction of Vapor Chambers Used to Expose Mice to Alcohol During the Equivalent of all Three Trimesters of Human Development
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Binge alcohol consumption by non-alcohol-dependent women during pregnancy affects child behaviour, but not general

I Nulman1, J Rovet, D Kennedy

  • 1The Motherisk Program, Division of Clinical Pharmacology/Toxicology, Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8. inulman@sickkids.ca

Archives of Women'S Mental Health
|July 9, 2004
PubMed

Effects of binge ethanol consumption during early gestation on child neurodevelopment have not been elucidated. To study whether binge drinking affects cognitive abilities and behavior of exposed children, a prospective observational study comparing 51 children exposed to binge drinking during the first trimester of pregnancy to 51 children not exposed to any teratogens was conducted. The children's physical development, intelligence, language abilities and behavior were assessed. Temperament test results showed that children exposed in utero to maternal binge drinking displayed a greater degree of disinhibited behavior and that this behavior was associated with early drinking variables. Although binge alcohol drinking by non-alcohol-dependent women during the first trimester of pregnancy does not appear to affect intelligence or cognitive and language development of young children, binge drinking in pregnancy does increase the likelihood of certain behavioral characteristics that might predispose these children to later behavioral dysfunction.

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