[Female alcoholism, pregnancy and the offspring]

At the present time when so much attention is being paid to birth rates and planned pregnancies as well as to a general lowering of perinatal mortality and of prematurity and morbidity, we find that maternal alcoholism is a real medico-social problem for the community. Studying alcoholism in pregnant women has made it possible to work out a profile of the type of woman involved. The risk to the fetus was calculated not only in accordance with the quantities of alcohol taken and their metabolic effects on the embryo, the fetus and the newborn, but also on the general nutritional states (including lipids) and their effects, especially on the development of the brain. These different facts make it possible for us to work out a way of detecting and observing the woman closely during her pregnancy by carrying out repeated and combined tests especially on the level of alcohol in the blood and the level of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in the plasma. The consequences of maternal alcoholism are examined as to their effects during the progress of the pregnancy itself (abortion, prematurity and mortality) and especially on the product of the conception with its characteristic fetal alcohol syndrome (including a description of it, its incidence and the influence of previous alcoholism as well as the future of the child). The conclusion shows how important it is to do everything possible in the antenatal and post-natal clinics to prevent the condition but also to "salvage" these children as far as possible when they have been born to alcoholic mothers so as to improve their nutritional and psycho-social states.