Costs of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Alberta, Canada

Although many programs targeting fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are implemented, the province of Alberta is still lacking information on costs of FASD.

To estimate the costs of FASD in Alberta based on available US and Canadian research on costs of FASD, and Alberta data.

Two types of costs were estimated. The annual long-term economic cost of FASD, which referred to a projected amount of money incurred by lives of the cohort of children born with FASD each year, was estimated by multiplying the lifetime cost of caring for each child born with FASD with the number of children born with FASD each year. The annual short-term economic cost of FASD, which referred to the amount of money incurred by people who are presently living with FASD, was estimated by using a FASD cost calculator online at http://www.online-clinic.com. Both were societal costs adjusted to 2008 Canadian dollars.

The annual long-term economic cost from the disorders rose from $130 to $400 million each year for the Alberta economy. The annual short-term economic cost for FASD in Alberta was from $48 to $143 million, and the daily cost for FASD in Alberta was from $105 to $316 thousand.

These numbers suggest a need for a provincial FASD prevention strategy. The costs of FASD can be used to evaluate the benefits of prevention programs to society.