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Query: UMLS:C0917816 (mental retardation)
 15,867 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

An evaluation of the evidence regarding the association between heavy maternal alcohol intake during pregnancy and the occurrence in offspring of that cluster of abnormalities called the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is undertaken from an epidemiological perspective. Areas of concern in assessing the literature include the objectivity with which the maternal drinking history was obtained, the nature, systematic or not, of examination of offspring, the presence or absence of a comparison group, the control for potentially confounding factors and, perhaps most important of all, whether or not the identification of a case was made blind to knowledge of the maternal drinking history. While well-documented evidence that can implicate a hypothesized teratogen is difficult to obtain, the data available concerning the effects of in utero exposure to high doses of alcohol must be carefully and thoughtfully scrutinized so that valid inferences may be drawn. In this review particular attention is focused on the nature of the association between in utero alcohol exposure and mental retardation, certainly the most devastating of the FAS features.
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PMID:Epidemiological appraisal of the literature on the fetal alcohol syndrome in humans. 702 19

From clinical and experimental studies it is evident that maternal alcohol intake produces deleterious effects on the development of offspring. In infants, these effects can range from lowered birth weight, general retardation of growth and development with functional deficits, to mental retardation with fetal alcohol syndrome. In animals, exposure to alcohol at a level not associated with classical teratological effects can still cause alterations in neural/synaptic development and hormonal secretion. Growth deficiencies and behavioral alterations have also been observed in pups exposed to ethanol in utero. The mechanisms underlying these actions of alcohol are not yet known because the factors that regulate normal growth and development of the central system are still poorly understood.
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PMID:Fetal alcohol syndrome: neurochemical and endocrinological abnormalities. 703 82

In this retrospective study, the clinical findings of 26 cases borne by alcoholic mothers in Japan are summarized. The information on maternal alcohol drinking and abnormal offspring was gathered by a questionnaire survey. Twenty cases, mostly in institutions for mental retardation, were checked from all areas of Japan. Six children from another group were followed during health examinations of children in a selected area with many heavy drinkers. Growth deficiency was found in half of these cases with an increased rate of low birth weight babies (42% of cases) including small-for-date babies (23% of cases). More than 90% of these cases were in the retarded range of intelligence, 50% of which had IQ scores of 51-75. Gross motor development was also delayed. In all of the 6 follow-up cases, craniofacial anomalies such as hypoplastic nose and philtrum, narrow lip vermilion and short palpebral fissures were observed, although these facial features were mild. An aberrant palmar crease was seen with high frequency. CT of 3 cases did not show constant findings. The mothers were said to have drunk about 0.41 or more of 'sake' or whisky daily (average 110 ml of absolute alcohol) throughout pregnancy. Although typical cases of the fetal alcohol syndrome are less than one-third, this report provides evidence for the presence of mentally retarded children borne by alcoholic mothers in Japan and should alert many medical professionals to this problem.
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PMID:The fetal alcohol syndrome in Japan. 719 26

Significant alcohol ingestion during pregnancy can cause a spectrum of malformation of various degrees of severity in offspring. The full expression of "fetal alcohol syndrome" includes reduced growth, facial anomalies, and mental retardation. Affected infants are usually of near-term gestation, but small in weight and length. They continue to exhibit decreased growth postnatally. Mental retardation appears to be related to the degree of dysmorphic severity of appearance. It is primarily caused by central nervous system pathology rather than social environment. The most prevalent ophthalmologic finding in our series of a short horizontal palpebral fissure appears to be due primarily to a marked increased in intercanthal distances between the medial canthi (primary telecanthus) and to less extent mild displacement of the lateral canthi. Ptosis, often asymmetric, was noted in a number of patients. Comitant convergent strabismus was present in about 50% of our cases; a few had amblyopia. An important observation was the frequent and often high degree of myopia in these children. Low-incidence anomalies include corneal opacities (Peters anomaly in one), cataract, tortuosity of retinal vessels, and long eyelashes. Our findings plus many observations in the literature establish that children with fetal alcohol syndrome are at considerable risk for a variety of eye problems.
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PMID:Fetal alcohol syndrome. 726 59

Children of alcoholic mothers are at increased risk for various social and metabolic problems. They are also likely to develop fetal alcohol syndrome: a variable pattern of growth retardation, mental retardation, neurologic dysfunction and congenital dysmorphology. Linear growth is retarded more than weight. Craniofacial anomalies, including microcephaly, are most common. Malformations appear to be related to heavy ethanol intake during the first trimester of pregnancy.
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PMID:Fetal alcohol syndrome. 738 48

Rats exposed to ethanol throughout their gestation were found to have abnormally distributed mossy fibers in temporal regions of the hippocampus. This demonstrates that prenatal exposure to ethanol causes alterations in neuronal circuitry that persist to maturity. Such defects may play a role in the mental retardation often observed in children with fetal alcohol syndrome.
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PMID:Prenatal exposure to ethanol alters the organization of hippocampal mossy fibers in rats. 746 71

Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) manifest a variety of central nervous system deficits which may include mental retardation, perceptual, linguistic and fine motor deficits, as well as behaviour problems. The neuropsychological performance of to preschool-aged children with FAS was compared to age, sex, and race-matched controls. Profile analysis revealed significant deficits in the FAS group on measures of intelligence and linguistic abilities. Comparison of group profiles revealed that the FAS group displayed impaired visual-motor integration in the presence of average visual-perceptual matching. The FAS children were also reported to exhibit a greater frequency of behaviour problems compared to controls. Although the FAS group were significantly growth delayed, the often reported association between cognitive abilities and skeletal growth was not evident. These results indicate that preschoolers with FAS display a distinct pattern of impairments, and understanding of this unique ability profile is important for the development of support and intervention programs for these patients and their families.
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PMID:Neuropsychological evaluation of preschoolers with fetal alcohol syndrome. 762 37

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a leading cause of congenital mental retardation but little is known about the long-term development and adolescent outcome of children with FAS. In a 10-year follow-up study of 60 patients diagnosed as having FAS in infancy and childhood, we investigated the long-term sequelae of intrauterine alcohol exposure. We found that the characteristic craniofacial malformations of FAS diminish with time, but microcephaly and, to a lesser degree, short stature and underweight (in boys) persist; in female adolescents body weight normalises. Persistent mental retardation is the major sequela of intrauterine alcohol exposure in many cases, and environmental and educational factors do not have strong compensatory effects on the intellectual development of affected children.
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PMID:Prenatal alcohol exposure and long-term developmental consequences. 768 18

A high prevalence of psychiatric illness exists in persons with mental retardation. Among children with mild to moderate retardation, psychiatric illnesses resemble those seen in the general population. Major affective disorders, ADHD, and conduct disorder are common and respond to the same interventions used in children without mental retardation. Persons with severe to profound retardation are more likely to engage in stereotypies and self-injurious behaviors. In addition, certain specific syndromes associated with mental retardation present with particular neurocognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric profiles. Common examples are fetal alcohol syndrome, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and Rett syndrome. Specific challenges exist for pediatricians who diagnose and treat patients with mental retardation and psychiatric illness. The child's impaired ability to communicate his or her thoughts and feelings with words makes clinical history taking difficult. The clinician must frequently rely on the observation of family members and teachers. An understanding of developmental profiles and interpersonal, peer, and family dynamics is important. Specific behaviors must be targeted and realistic objectives set in treatment planning, which may include psychotherapy, medication, behavior management techniques, and rehabilitation therapy.
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PMID:Dual diagnoses. Psychiatric disorders in developmental disabilities. 768 22

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a major cause of preventable mental retardation (1). The development and evaluation of programs for preventing FAS may be enhanced by timely and reliable estimates of the occurrence of this complex birth defect. In 1989, birth certificates were standardized nationally to include check-boxes for reporting FAS and other congenital abnormalities (2). These changes were implemented to improve the potential usefulness of birth certificates for timely and systematic population-based ascertainment of FAS and other abnormal conditions of the newborn (3). To assess the usefulness of birth certificates for surveillance of FAS, the Division of Public Health, Georgia Department of Human Resources (DPH-GDHR), compared information about congenital anomalies from birth certificates to data collected by CDC's Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program (MACDP) during 1989-1992. This report summarizes the results of the assessment of FAS.
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PMID:Birth certificates as a source for fetal alcohol syndrome case ascertainment--Georgia, 1989-1992. 789 20


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