Alcohol Use and Rates of FASD
Alcohol has a long history as part of human society. For hundreds of years people have wondered about different ways that alcohol can affect a fetus in the womb. There were times in history when alcohol was thought to be dangerous but it was not known for sure why. There were also times when alcohol was thought to be helpful. It was not until the early 1970s that we began to better understand the connection between prenatal alcohol exposure and disability. We now know of some of the harms of drinking alcohol during pregnancy and how serious this can be, but there are still many things to learn.
Even though alcohol use is common, we do not fully understand the costs, both personal and to the community, of alcohol misuse. When learning about the risks of alcohol use and FASD most people want to know what the scope of the problem is. They want to know the rates of FASD. We do not have national statistics on the rates of FASD in Canada although the Public Health Agency of Canada suggests that 9 in 1000 births are affected. Another way to understand this is that up to 300,000 people are living with FASD in our country (PHAC, 2010) (PHAC, 2005).
Reference:
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2010). Frequently Asked Questions.
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2005) A Framework for Action
Chudley, A.E., Conry, J. Cook, J.L., Loock, C., Rosales, T. & LeBlanc, N. (2005). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Canadian guidelines for diagnosis. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 172(5_suppl). Retrieved from www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/172/5_suppl/S1.