Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a condition that develops in a fetus (developing baby) when a pregnant person drinks alcohol during pregnancy. A syndrome is a group of symptoms that happen together as the result of a particular disease or abnormal condition. When someone has fetal alcohol syndrome, they’re at the most severe end of what are known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs).

FAS is a life-long condition that can’t be cured. This condition can be prevented if you don’t drink any alcohol during pregnancy. It’s possible that even small amounts of alcohol consumed during pregnancy can damage your developing fetus.

What’s the difference between fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs)?

When a fetus is exposed to alcohol before birth, the baby’s development can be affected in many different ways. The impact of alcohol use may create mild or severe symptoms. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is this group of signs and symptoms on a scale from least to most effects. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most severe condition on this scale. Other conditions under the FASD umbrella include:

• Partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS): People with pFAS have some of the characteristics of FAS (changes to their facial features, for example), but don’t have all the symptoms for FAS.
• Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND): People with this disorder experience some or all of the following: impulsiveness, inattentiveness and challenges with judgment and school performance.
• Alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD): These are physical birth defects (abnormal changes to parts of the body) that can affect the heart, eyes, skeletal system, ears and kidneys.
• Neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE): Someone with this condition was exposed to more than a small amount of alcohol as a fetus. They have difficulty with daily tasks like bathing and can struggle in social settings because of significant behavior issues like severe tantrums. They also have trouble with thinking and memory.

How common is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?

There are no exact statistics of how many people have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). It can sometimes be difficult to diagnose a person with FASD because of the variety of symptoms and spectrum of severity. Also, not all people who drink while pregnant feel comfortable talking to their healthcare provider. This means that some people with mild symptoms of FASD might never be diagnosed.

Using the information that is available, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other scientists estimate less than 2 cases of FASD in every 1,000 live births in the United States. When researchers look at the whole spectrum of disorders (FASD), the frequency may be as high as 1 to 5 out of every 100 kids in the U.S. and Western Europe.

In 2019, CDC researchers found that 1 in 9 pregnant people drank alcohol in a 30-day period of time.