Subtle Cognitive Variability in Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Spectrum: Intelligence Profiles and Verbal Fluency...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with neurodevelopmental delays, cognitive impairments, and educational challenges.
• Key features in affected children include impaired communication and intelligence.
• Alcohol exposure during gestation disrupts neural migration and overall brain development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare intelligence quotient and verbal fluency in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and healthy controls.
• To investigate the utility of machine learning algorithms in diagnosing FASD subtypes.
• To identify risk factors associated with FASD through parental/caregiver surveys.

Main Methods:

• A case-control study involving 124 children with FASD (FAS, pFAS, ARND) and 53 healthy controls.
• Assessment of verbal and non-verbal intelligence using the WISC-R scale.
• Evaluation of verbal fluency (phonemic, semantic, categorical) over 15 and 60 seconds, employing both traditional statistical tests and machine learning algorithms.

Main Results:

• Children with FASD demonstrated significantly lower verbal and non-verbal intelligence and impaired verbal fluency compared to controls (p < 0.01).
• Machine learning models achieved 0.49 precision and 80% recall for FAS diagnosis.
• Machine learning models showed limited precision and recall for partial FAS (pFAS) and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) diagnoses.

Conclusions:

• Children with FASD exhibit distinct differences in intelligence and verbal fluency compared to neurotypical children.
• Neuropsychological and clinical data did not clearly differentiate between the diagnostic subtypes of FASD (FAS, pFAS, ARND).
• Further research is needed to refine diagnostic criteria and improve differentiation among FASD subtypes.