A new suite of approved national guidelines to help assess and diagnose foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) has been released. It is the first time clinical guidelines have been developed for the condition in Australia.
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Royal Australian
College of General Practitioners (RACGP) - Decade-first guidance on FASD diagnosis
First-of-their-kind guidelines for the assessment and diagnosis of foetal
alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are now available to GPs, offering practical
help and diagnostic criteria.
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World Health
Organization (WHO) (Malta) - Midwives in Malta nurture health from the
outset, one open conversation at a time
Europe has the highest prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy in the
world and, consequently, the highest rates of FASD and fetal alcohol syndrome –
the most severe form of the disorder.
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Stuff (New Zealand) - ‘Our
kids deserve better’: The reality of raising children with fetal alcohol
spectrum disorder
A Ministry of Health report released last year estimated over half of the
total societal cost of alcohol harms in 2023 was due to fetal alcohol spectrum
disorder - $4.8 billion.
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CCX Media (USA) - Nonprofit
Proof Alliance Helps Families with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Proof Alliance is a nonprofit that helps Minnesota families dealing with
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) find resources and connection. The
group is holding its annual caregiver conference at the Heritage Center in
Brooklyn Center next week.
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Indiana Capital
Chronicle (USA) - Individuals with brain damage due to fetal alcohol
syndrome should be exempt from execution
In less than a week, Indiana is set to execute Benjamin Ritchie, a man with
significant brain damage due to Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (pFAS) and
exposure to multiple neurotoxins, even though no jury was ever presented with
evidence about Ritchie’s multiple impairments.
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Clare FM (Ireland) - A
Focus On FASD Ireland’s First Ever Conference
FASD Ireland’s first ever conference is edging ever closer. The
organisation provides awareness, education and support in relation to Foetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
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Australian
Broadcasting Corporation - Early screening plea for children with Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
When she and her partner took Dylan into foster care, the two-year-old had
already been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, or FASD.
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Women's Agenda - ‘Every
moment matters’ when it comes to alcohol and pregnancy. Here’s why healthcare
professionals need to be informed
Angelene (Ange) Bruce, the biological mother of a thriving child with Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), is using her lived experience to help others
achieve alcohol-free pregnancies.
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Irish Examiner (Ireland)
- 'Under-recognised' foetal alcohol spectrum disorder a 'silent epidemic'
A British expert on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is warning that
the condition is under-recognised, speaking ahead of a conference which takes
place in Clare on Thursday.
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University of Queensland
(Australia) - New national guidelines to improve fetal alcohol spectrum
disorder diagnosis
Health professionals will have access to national clinical practice
guidelines to help assess and diagnose fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD),
following a 4-year research project led by The University of Queensland.
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VIDEOS and MATERIALS
FASD Hub Australia - Australian Guidelines for Assessment and Diagnosis of
FASD Overview
An Australian clinical practice guideline approved by the National Health
and Medical Research Council for the assessment and diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorder (FASD) has been released.
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HNY Health and Care
Partnership - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder FASD Spotlight on Hull Webinar
This one-hour webinar is aimed at professionals working in the health and
care system and provides the most up-to-date information, learning and
developments from Hull and the Humber and North Yorkshire FASD Community of
Practice.
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Wonderful Works
Ministry - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and Youth Group Wonderful
Works
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Patricia Kasper, Your
FASD Coach - Unveiling Stories: The Impact of Jodee Kulp's Writing on FASD
Awareness
In the latest episode of our podcast, we delve deep into the world of Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) with the remarkable Jodee Kulp, a beloved
figure in the FASD community. Jodee shares her journey as an author, focusing
on her latest book, Embracing Zak, which has garnered significant acclaim for
its engaging storytelling and powerful themes of neurodiversity.
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FASD Hub Scotland and
FASD Hub UK - Webinar with Alice Foote
This FASD Hub webinar features advocate Alice Foot sharing her lived
experience with FASD, focusing on the challenges and successes of transitioning
to adulthood and answering audience questions about life skills, independence,
education, relationships, and advocacy.
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CanFASD - Emerging
Action in Research: CanFASD Trainee Webinar Series Part 1
In 2025, eleven trainees participated in the CanFASD Trainee Program. This
is a chance to learn what the next generation of Canadian FASD researchers and
providers are accomplishing, to hear new research findings, and to look forward
to forthcoming study results.
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Patricia Kasper, Your
FASD Coach - Mind-Body Connection: How Lifestyle Medicine Enhances Quality
of Life with Dr. Jerrod Brown
In this enlightening episode of Living with FASD, host Patti Kasper
reconnects with the insightful Jerrod Brown to explore the transformative
concept of lifestyle medicine. Jerrod introduces listeners to the principles of
lifestyle medicine, emphasizing its relevance for everyone, regardless of age
or neurodevelopmental status.
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CC Animation Studio - Alcohol
and Pregnancy – The Facts
All parents want to give their baby the best start in life, which is why
it’s important not to drink any alcohol during pregnancy. Anything you drink,
including alcohol, passes to your baby through the placenta. It stays in the
fluid that surrounds your baby (amniotic fluid) for a while.
Read more
European Academy of
Paediatrics - EAP Webinar: Every Childhood Matters -The Hidden Dangers of
Alcohol
Building on the themes of the European Alcohol Health Alliance Symposium
(launched May 2025), the session explores the dangers of alcohol exposure and
how children are affected at every stage — from prenatal exposure to the
impacts of parental misuse, societal consumption, and pervasive alcohol
marketing.
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NOFASD Australia - Turning
18 and living with FASD: New two-part resource set
Did you know that transitioning into adulthood presents unique challenges
for individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)? For young people
with FASD, turning 18 often brings new responsibilities, legal obligations, and
complex decisions that require careful navigation.
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RESEARCH
Healthy Population Journal - Transforming FASD Diagnosis in Newfoundland and
Labrador: A Community Collaborative Approach for Capacity Building and Network
Development
This commentary delves into fasdNL's innovative work in establishing a
comprehensive diagnostic network for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in
Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). Although unparalleled in its complexity, FASD
remains a persistently underdiagnosed and under-resourced lifelong condition.
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Neuroscience - Differences
in neurophysiological resting-state alpha spectral events in 4–12-year-old
children with prenatal exposure to alcohol relative to typically developing
controls
The differences found in alpha events with age and PAE may provide valuable
insights into the physiological correlates of attention and highlight the
potential of alpha oscillations as biomarkers for understanding
attention-related deficits in children with prenatal alcohol exposure.
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Human Brain Mapping - Pattern
of Deep Grey Matter Undersizing Boosts MRI-Based Diagnostic Classifiers in
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Although previous studies have suggested that the deep grey matter is
heterogeneously affected at the group level, it has not yet been established
within proper scaling modeling, nor has it been given a place in the FASD
diagnostic criteria where neuroanatomical features still contribute almost
nothing to diagnostic specificity.
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Psychiatry, Psychology
and Law - Evaluating the role of strengths and protective factors for youth
with FASD and criminal legal system involvement: a scoping review
Youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are overrepresented in
the criminal legal system (CLS). There is greater recognition among scholars,
policymakers, and professionals of the importance of strengths-based approaches
for this population.
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MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO
ALL’INFANZIA - Adoptive families faced with fetal alcohol syndrome: A needs
analysis
This study was born out from the collaboration between the University
Center for Family Studies and Research and the Italian Association of Fetal
Exposure Disorders to Alcohol and/or Drugs (AIDEFAD).
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Quality in Sport - The
Complexity of Sleep Disorders in Children with FASD
The clinical manifestations of FASD are highly complex and affect all organ
systems. Poor sleep hygiene in children with FASD has a significant impact on
multiple areas of life, often leading to additional dysfunctions.
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Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy
- Effects of maternal drinking patterns and epigallocatechin-3-gallate
treatment on behavioural and molecular outcomes in a mouse model of fetal
alcohol spectrum disorders
These findings highlight the impact of PAE on cognition and behaviour and
how EGCG may counteract its effects by reducing oxidative stress and enhancing
brain plasticity.
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Behavioural Brain
Research - Impaired cognitive function and altered dendritic morphology of
hippocampal neurons in a mouse model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
This study explores how developmental alcohol exposure affects the
dendritic morphology of hippocampal pyramidal neurons, focusing on the actin
cytoskeleton's dynamics essential for neuronal structure and synaptic function.
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University of South
Florida - PRENATAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
MATERNAL ALCOHOL INTAKE, CIRCADIAN RHYTHM DISRUPTIONS, AND THE ASIAN GLOW
EFFECT
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), often undiagnosed, increase the
risk of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and disrupted
maternal circadian rhythms (CDs) may synergistically worsen neurodevelopmental
impairments.
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Drug and alcohol review
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: The Caring and Financial Burden to
Caregivers—A Scoping Review
Personal costs ranged between USD$198.13-CAD$6215,27 per person per year.
These articles identified that parents incurred costs related to medical care,
education, social services, productivity losses, externalising behaviours,
other direct costs to the family, and psychosocial impacts on families.
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American Journal on Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities - Executive and Social Functioning in Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Comparison to Autism
Executive function is an area of challenge for both children with fetal
alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and children with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD). Parent ratings of everyday executive function relate to a range of
outcomes, including social functioning in ASD.
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Alcohol: Clinical and
Experimental research - Altered activity within the social behavior neural
network in adolescent rats following prenatal alcohol exposure and/or
early-life adversity
Our findings indicate that both PAE and ELA are associated with altered
neural activity in regions supporting social recognition memory, notably the
OB, PCX, mPFC, amygdala, and PVN.
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medRxiv - The
impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on sleep outcomes in 10,336 young
adolescents: An Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study
These findings contribute to the growing evidence that there are no safe
levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, as even low to moderate PAE
negatively impacts adolescent sleep.
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Obstetrics &
Gynecology - How Effective Are Obstetric Providers at Counseling About
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana Use During Pregnancy?
Although almost all obstetric providers report counseling about avoidance
of and risks to their fetuses from alcohol, smoking, and marijuana usage in
pregnancy, only approximately half of patients recall that they received any
such counseling.
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The Canadian Journal
of Psychiatry - Trends in Healthcare for Drug or Alcohol Use Among Pregnant
Women with Disabilities in Ontario Canada
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South African Journal
of Psychiatry - Substance and alcohol use in pregnant women attending
antenatal care at a tertiary hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa
The increased risk of contracting HIV and having babies with low birth
weights when substances are used in pregnancy highlights the need for
appropriate behaviour modification for these women during antenatal care and
this is in line with the health belief model.
Read more
PsyArXiv Preprints - Under
What Circumstances Do Pregnant Women Use Cannabis and Alcohol? The
Contributions of Risk Perception, Mental Health, and Individual Context
When taken together, results indicate that prenatal and perinatal
healthcare providers may need to screen for mental health struggles and certain
individual contexts and personalize care to increase risk perception of
substance use while pregnant.
Read more
IN OTHER LANGUAGES
MMW-Fortschritte der Medizin (Germany) - „FASD bleibt ein großes
gesellschaftliches Tabu“
Alkohol in der Schwangerschaft ist ein Gesellschaftsproblem, findet Prof.
Mirjam Landgraf. Im Interview erklärt die Autorin der S3-Leitlinie zu fetalen
Alkoholspektrumstörungen (FASD), warum viele werdende Mütter noch immer Alkohol
trinken und was den betroffenen Nachwuchs auszeichnet.
Read more
Beltz (Germany) - Schulassistenz
für Kinder und Jugendliche mit FASD – Ergebnisse einer Online-Befragung
Zusammenfassung: Kinder mit einer Fetalen Alkoholspektrumstörung (FASD)
benötigen in der Schule häufig die individuelle Unterstützung einer
Schulbegleitperson. Diese ermöglicht den Kindern durch ihre Assistenz die
Teilhabe am Unterricht und im sozialen Schulalltag.
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Chaos im Kopf Podcast
- Dein FASD Podcast (Germany) - FASD und Pubertät (C83)
Die Pubertät ist turbulent – besonders für Jugendliche mit FASD und ihre
Begleitpersonen. In diesem Interview spreche ich mit der Expertin Christina
Heib, die uns erklärt, welche massiven hirnphysiologischen Umbauprozesse
während dieser Lebensphase stattfinden und warum diese bei FASD besonders
herausfordernd sind.
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Käypä Hoito (Finland)
- Sikiöaikaisen alkoholialtistuksen vaikutus lapsen kehittymiseen ja
ADHD-riskiin
Noin 10 % naisista raportoi käyttäneensä alkoholia jossain vaiheessa
raskautta 1. Suomalaisten päihteitä käyttävien raskaana olevien naisten
lukumäärästä ei ole luotettavaa tietoa.
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Kaksplus (Finland) - Kim
sai 40-vuotislahjaksi tietää, että hänellä on FASD – äitinsä raskausajan
juomisen hän on antanut anteeksi
FASD:ia eli alkoholista johtuvien sikiövaurioiden kirjoa tunnetaan
heikosti. Kimillä kesti vuosikymmeniä selvittää, mistä hänen ongelmansa
johtuivat.
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FAS Portalen (Sweden)
- Ny svensk studie: Fler barn med FASD än vad tidigare studier visat
Forskare har länge sökt efter effektiva metoder för att identifiera och
diagnostisera fetala alkoholspektrumstörning (FASD) hos barn samt för att få
fram prevalenssiffror i Sverige.
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