OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of FASD.
Beginning note: The stats at bottom were from 2000-01. This does not seem to mean things are better now. In fact, across the board, the rate of FAS babies is increasing. It used to be 5 to 9 out of 100 babies were born with FASD, then 7 to 9 and now a pretty firm 10 out of 100. This is discovered (in one way) through Meconium testing. That is the testing of the bowel contents.
“A 2003 survey of British Columbia high-school students conducted by the McCreary Centre Society found that 46 percent of males and 43% of females in high school who admitted to drinking had engaged in binge drinking in the previous month.”
The Canadian Campus Survey in 2000 found that 63% of students reported consuming 5 or more drinks in a single sitting in the previous year.”
Meconium is the first bowel movement by a newborn infant. Available since at least 2001, the meconium based assay incorporates a panel of Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters as bio-markers of maternal alcohol use during the last 20 weeks of pregnancy. Studies with the MecStat-EtOH assay (Avitar Technologies Inc., United States Drug Testing Laboratories) found fetal exposure to alcohol in 15-18% of newborns tested, approximately 4% of the newborns had elevated results.
As the meconium test does not detect exposure in the first 4.5 months, it would not include those mothers who drank during the first trimester and quit when they discovered they were pregnant. Yet major damage could have already occurred to the baby. In a confirming study of all newborns in Grey – Bruce Counties, Ontario, it was found the mothers either lied or substantially underestimated their alcohol use throughout the pregnancy. As confirmed prenatal exposure to alcohol is currently critical to a proper diagnosis and intervention, the meconium for all newborns should be routinely tested.
Both the Avitar/USDTL and Grey-Bruce studies showed very high levels of alcohol use in 4% of newborns in the final 20 weeks of gestation. For some reason, the Grey-Bruce study did not report on lower levels of detection, possibly because the funding source is the beverage alcohol industry.
So see the results of childhood drinking...
So see the results of childhood drinking...
Frequency of Total Population Never 5 or more drinks 5 or more drinks on 5 or more drinks on
Heavy Drinking Reporting Drinking on one occasion one occasion, less one occasion, 12 or
Statitics than12 times per yr more times per year
12 yrs and over 19,832,244 11,028,396 %55.6 4,618,818 %23.3 3,979,611 %20.1
Males 10,254,854 4,624,858 %45.1 2,606,918 %25.4 2,902319 %28.3
Females 9,577,389 6,403,537 %66.9 2,011,900 %21 1,077,342 %11.2
12-19 Years 1,732,962 810,433 %46.8 456,590 %26.3 435,482 %25.1
Males 896,639 85,784 %43 24,658 %25.1 269,607 %30.1
Females 836,324 424,658 %50.8 231,932 %27.7 165,875 %19.8
12-14 Years 263,807 213,023 %80.7 33,675 %12.8 12,544 %4.8
Males 142,545 118,252 %83 16,929 %11.9 4,347 %3
Females 121,262 94.772 %78.2 16,747 %13.8 8,197 %6.8
15-19 Years 1,469,155 597,419 %40.7 422,915 %28.8 422,937 28.8
Males 754,094 267,533 %35.5 207,729 %27.5 265,260 %35.2
Females 715,062 9.886 %46.1 215,186 %30.1 157,678 %22.1
No comments:
Post a Comment