Addictions Counselling, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2020 Sep;41(7):559-564. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000816.
Studies have confirmed the detrimental effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on language development in children. Little is known about the ability of prenatal alcohol risk (PAR) screening measures to predict language or other neurodevelopmental delays in young children, however. The intent of this study is to identify whether PAR predicts communication development in children at 12, 24, and 36 months of age.
Data from 772 women and their children who participated in the All Our Families pregnancy cohort were analyzed. Respondents completed the T-ACE, a validated screening tool for detecting PAR. Communication development in children was measured through the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition. Logistic regression was used to generate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.
A positive screen for PAR places a child at risk for communication delay (≤1 SD below mean) by approximately 1.5-fold at 12, 24, and 36 months of age, even after adjustment for demographic variables. Follow-up analysis revealed a significant difference in the prevalence of risk for communication delays between 12 and 24 months and between 24 and 36 months in both low- and high-risk drinking groups, with 24-month-old children showing the greatest risk for delay.
The results of this study suggest that screening for PAR in expectant mothers may identify a group of young children at increased risk for communication delays. This research carries clinical implications and provides support for PAR screening in informing early childhood developmental screening efforts.
研究证实，胎儿期酒精暴露对儿童语言发展有不良影响。然而，关于产前酒精风险（PAR）筛查措施预测幼儿语言或其他神经发育迟缓的能力，知之甚少。本研究旨在确定 PAR 是否能预测儿童在 12、24 和 36 个月时的沟通发展。
对参加全家庭妊娠队列研究的 772 名女性及其子女的数据进行了分析。受访者完成了 T-ACE，这是一种用于检测 PAR 的经过验证的筛查工具。儿童的沟通发展通过年龄和阶段问卷，第三版进行测量。使用逻辑回归生成优势比和 95%置信区间。
即使在调整了人口统计学变量后，PAR 的阳性筛查也使儿童在 12、24 和 36 个月时出现沟通延迟（低于平均值 1 个标准差）的风险增加约 1.5 倍。随访分析显示，在低风险和高风险饮酒组中，12 个月至 24 个月和 24 个月至 36 个月之间的沟通延迟风险的发生率存在显著差异，24 个月大的儿童风险最大。
这项研究的结果表明，对孕妇进行 PAR 筛查可能可以识别出一组沟通延迟风险增加的幼儿。这项研究具有临床意义，并为 PAR 筛查在告知幼儿期发育筛查方面提供了支持。
