scholarly journals Prenatal alcohol exposure and facial morphology in a UK cohort

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence J Howe ◽  
Gemma C Sharp ◽  
Gibran Hemani ◽  
Luisa Zuccolo ◽  
Stephen Richmond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Facial Morphology ◽  
Normal Range ◽  
Maternal Alcohol ◽  
Maternal Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Maternal Genotype ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol

AbstractHigh levels of prenatal alcohol exposure are known to cause an array of adverse outcomes including foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS); however, the effects of low to moderate exposure are less-well characterised. Previous findings suggest that differences in normal-range facial morphology may be a marker for alcohol exposure and related adverse effects. Therefore, in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, we tested for an association between maternal alcohol consumption and six FAS-related facial phenotypes in their offspring, using both self-report questionnaires and the maternal genotype at rs1229984 in ADH1B as measures of maternal alcohol consumption. In both self-reported alcohol consumption (N=4,233) and rs1229984 genotype (N=3,139) analyses, we found no strong statistical evidence for an association between maternal alcohol consumption and facial phenotypes tested. The directions of effect estimates were compatible with the known effects of heavy alcohol exposure, but confidence intervals were largely centred around zero. We conclude that, in a sample representative of the general population, there is no strong evidence for an effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on normal-range variation in facial morphology.

scholarly journals Prenatal alcohol exposure programs offspring disease: Insulin resistance in adult males in a rat model of acute exposure

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tam M T Nguyen ◽  
Sarah E Steane ◽  
Karen M Moritz ◽  
Lisa K Akison
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Resistance ◽  
Blood Glucose ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Fetal Development ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Metabolic Dysfunction ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol

AbstractAlcohol consumption is highly prevalent amongst women of reproductive age. Given that approximately 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, alcohol has the potential to affect fetal development and program chronic disease in offspring. We examined the effect of an acute but moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on glucose metabolism, lipid levels and dietary preference in adolescent and/or adult rat offspring. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats received an oral gavage of ethanol (1g/kg maternal body weight, n=9 dams) or an equivalent volume of saline (control, n=8 dams) at embryonic days 13.5 and 14.5. PAE resulted in a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05-0.06% 1h post-gavage in dams. Fasting blood glucose concentration was not affected by PAE in offspring at any age, nor were blood glucose levels during a glucose tolerance test (GTT) in 6-month old offspring (P>0.5). However, there was evidence of insulin resistance in PAE male offspring at 6 months of age, with significantly elevated fasting plasma insulin (P= 0.001), a tendency for increased first phase insulin secretion during the GTT and impaired glucose clearance following an insulin challenge (P= 0.007). This was accompanied by modest alterations in protein kinase B (AKT) signalling in adipose tissue. PAE also resulted in reduced calorie consumption by offspring compared to controls (P= 0.04). These data suggest that a relatively low-level, acute PAE programs metabolic dysfunction in offspring in a sex-specific manner. These results highlight that alcohol consumption during pregnancy has the potential to affect the long-term health of offspring.Key points summaryPrenatal alcohol exposure has the potential to affect fetal development and program chronic disease in offspring.Previous preclinical models typically use high, chronic doses of alcohol throughout pregnancy to examine effects on offspring, particularly on the brain and behaviour.In this study we use a rat model of moderate, acute, prenatal alcohol exposure to determine if this can be detrimental to maintenance of glucose homeostasis in adolescent and adult offspring.Although female offspring were relatively unaffected, there was evidence of insulin resistance in 6-month old male offspring exposed to prenatal alcohol, suggestive of a pre-diabetic state.This result suggests that even a relatively low-dose, acute exposure to alcohol during pregnancy can still program metabolic dysfunction in a sex-specific manner.

Attention: Prenatal alcohol and continuities of vigilance and attentional problems from 4 through 14 years

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann P. Streissguth ◽  
Fred L. Bookstein ◽  
Paul D. Sampson ◽  
Helen M. Barr
Keyword(s):  
Latent Variable ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Teacher Ratings ◽  
Self Report ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Vigilance Performance ◽  
Grade Teacher ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study examined the longitudinal components of vigilance performance and attentional behaviors across the ages of 4, 7, and 14 years of life as they relate to prenatal alcohol exposure assessed by maternal self-report in midpregnancy for a cohort of 512 children. The vigilance score most salient for prenatal alcohol across this 10-year developmental period was Standard Deviation of Reaction Time (SDRT). Also salient were False Alarms (FA) on the AX task, impulsive errors reflecting difficulty in withholding a response. All 19 of the children with poorest scores on a Vigilance Latent Variable (LV) at 14 years had scored low on a similarly-defined Vigilance LV at age 7 years. Cross-lagged correlations revealed that the 7-year Vigilance LV not only predicted second-grade teacher ratings of attention a year later (r = – .38), but also predicted fourth-fifth-grade teacher ratings of attention (r = – .36). These data reveal considerable consistency across time in the impact of prenatal alcohol on child/adolescent vigilance performance and attention between 4 and 14 years of age.

scholarly journals A preliminary investigation of the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on facial morphology in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Weiting Tan ◽  
Yong Zhi Foo ◽  
Jenny Downs ◽  
Amy Finlay-Jones ◽  
Helen Leonard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Facial Morphology ◽  
Autistic Children ◽  
Facial Shape ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol

Alcohol exposure during pregnancy has been associated with altered brain development and facial dysmorphology. While autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not specifically related to distinct facial phenotypes, recent studies have suggested certain facial characteristics—increased facial masculinity and asymmetry—may be associated with ASD and its clinical presentations. In the present study, we conducted a preliminary investigation to examine the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on facial morphology in autistic children with (n = 37; mean age = 8.21 years, SD = 2.72) and without (n = 100; mean age = 8.37 years, SD = 2.47) prenatal alcohol exposure. Using three-dimensional facial scans and principal component analysis, we identified a facial shape associated with prenatal alcohol exposure in autistic children. However, variations in the alcohol-related facial shape were generally not associated with behavioural and cognitive measures. These findings suggest that while early exposure to alcohol may influence the development of facial structures, it is does not appear to be associated with ASD phenotypic variability. Importantly, although these findings do not implicate a role for prenatal alcohol exposure in the etiology of ASD, further research is warranted to investigate the link between prenatal alcohol exposure and facial morphology differences among neurodevelopmental conditions.

scholarly journals Association of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Prenatal Maternal Depression with Offspring Low-Grade Inflammation in Early Adolescence

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 7920
Author(s):  
Janina Maschke ◽  
Jakob Roetner ◽  
Sophia Bösl ◽  
Anne-Christine Plank ◽  
Nicolas Rohleder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Maternal Depression ◽  
Systemic Inflammation ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Inflammatory Status ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol

(1) This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the link between prenatal alcohol exposure and prenatal maternal depression with the offspring’s low-grade inflammatory status. (2) Prenatal alcohol exposure was determined via maternal self-report during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy (self-report+: n = 29) and the meconium alcohol metabolite Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), collected at birth (≥30 ng/g: n = 23). The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to screen for prenatal maternal depressive symptoms during the 3rd trimester (≥10: n = 35). Fifteen years later, 122 adolescents (M = 13.32 years; 48.4% female) provided blood samples for the analysis of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP; M = 0.91; SD = 1.28). (3) Higher hsCRP levels were found in EtG positive adolescents (p = 0.036, ηp2 = 0.04) and an inverse non-significant dose–response relation with hsCRP (r = −0.35, p = 0.113). For maternal self-reported prenatal alcohol consumption (p = 0.780, ηp2 = 0.00) and prenatal depressive symptoms (p = 0.360, ηp2 = 0.01) no differences for hsCRP levels between the affected and unaffected groups were found. (4) Adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure are at risk for low-grade systemic inflammation. The EtG biomarker may be more accurate compared to self-reports. The findings suggest that prenatal maternal depression does not evoke low-grade systemic inflammation.

scholarly journals Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and offspring epigenome-wide DNA methylation: findings from six general population-based birth cohorts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma C Sharp ◽  
Ryan Arathimos ◽  
Sarah E Reese ◽  
Christian M Page ◽  
Janine Felix ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
General Population ◽  
Cord Blood ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Maternal Alcohol ◽  
Maternal Alcohol Consumption

AbstractSome evidence suggests that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes in the offspring, but the precise biological mechanisms underlying such associations are currently unknown. Epigenetic modifications have been suggested as one potential explanation.Within the Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics (PACE) consortium, we performed meta-analysis to combine information from six population-based birth cohort studies to investigate DNA methylation at over 450,000 sites in the cord blood of newborns differentially exposed to alcohol in utero. We were primarily interested in the effects of sustained consumption throughout pregnancy (data available for five cohorts, 3,075 mother-child pairs), which represents a prolonged prenatal exposure to alcohol, but we also explored binge-drinking and timing-specific exposures. In addition to looking for differential methylation at individual CpG sites, we also used two different methods, Comb-P and DMRcate, to identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs).We found no strong evidence of association between any of our alcohol exposure measures and DNA methylation at any individual CpG site. Using Comb-P, we identified 19 DMRs in the offspring of mothers who drank throughout pregnancy compared to the offspring of mothers who gave up drinking at the start of pregnancy, but these were not validated using DMRcate.In this multi-cohort study of the general population we found no evidence that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy is associated with offspring cord blood DNA methylation, which is in stark contrast to the multiple, strong associations that previous studies have found for maternal smoking. However, it is possible that a combination of a larger sample size, higher doses, different timings of exposure and a more global assessment of genomic DNA methylation might show evidence of association.

scholarly journals Prenatal alcohol exposure and facial morphology in a UK cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence J. Howe ◽  
Gemma C. Sharp ◽  
Gibran Hemani ◽  
Luisa Zuccolo ◽  
Stephen Richmond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Facial Morphology ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol

scholarly journals Prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in the Republic of the Congo: Maternal smoking is associated with increased risk of prenatal alcohol exposure

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Williams ◽  
Yannick Nkombo ◽  
Gery Nkodia ◽  
Gary Leonardson ◽  
Larry Burd
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Maternal Smoking ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Smoking During Pregnancy ◽  
Maternal Alcohol ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol ◽  
The Republic

Williams, A., Nkombo, Y., Nkodia, G., Leonardson, G., & Burd, L. (2014). Prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in the Republic of the Congo: Maternal smoking is associated with increased risk of prenatal alcohol exposure. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 3(1), 105-111. doi:10.7895/ijadr.v3i1.131Aims: Development of useful estimates of rates of maternal smoking during pregnancy, and the impact of smoking on rates and duration of maternal alcohol use during pregnancy.Design: A prospective study utilizing systematic screening of consecutive pregnant women.Setting: Ten prenatal care sites in Brazzaville, Congo’s largest city, where 50% of live births in the Congo occur. Women were asked to report the number of cigarettes smoked per day.Findings: From the 10 sites, 3,099 women were screened and 5.5% (n = 172) reported smoking. The mean number of cigarettes smoked per day was 1.1 and only 11% (n = 19) of the women reported smoking two or more cigarettes per day during pregnancy. Smoking during pregnancy was associated with a 4.9-fold increase in prenatal alcohol exposure during pregnancy. We found that 93% of the women who smoked also used alcohol during pregnancy.Conclusions: While the prevalence of smoking and the average number of cigarettes smoked per day were both low, smoking at any level results in a huge increase in risk for maternal alcohol use during pregnancy. The trend across the developing world is for increasing rates of smoking among women and children. Since the number of cigarettes smoked per day was low, smoking cessation programs and public health warnings may be useful in further reducing rates of smoking during pregnancy and, thus, risk for prenatal alcohol exposure in the Congo. We believe this is the first report quantifying the risk of smoking and prenatal alcohol use in a population of pregnant women.

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