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Alcohol Clin Exp Res - 2023 - Dawe - An investigation of the utility of the Australian Guide to the Diagnosis of Fetal1,003.22 kB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
An investigation of the utility of the Australian Guide to the diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in young children
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Vol.47(3), pp.486-500
2023
PMID: 36810987
Abstract
Background: Early diagnosis of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) assists in implementing critical early support. The challenge lies in having a diagnostic process that enables valid and reliable assessment of domains of functioning in young children, with the added complexity that many children will also have co occurring exposure to childhood adversity that is likely to impact these domains. Methods: The aim of this study was to test a diagnostic assessment of FASD in young children using the Australian Guide to the Diagnosis of FASD. Ninety four children (aged 3 to 7 years) with confirmed or suspected prenatal alcohol exposure were referred to two specialist FASD clinics for assessment in Queensland, Australia. Results: There was a significant risk profile with 68.1% (n= 64) children having had contact with child protection services, and most children living in kinship (n=22, 27.7%) or foster (n= 36, 40.4%) care. Forty one percent of the children were Indigenous Australians. The majority (64.9%, n= 61) of children met criteria for FASD, 30.9% were classified as “At Risk” for FASD (n= 29), and 4.3% received no FASD diagnosis (n= 4). Only 4 (4%) children were rated as severe for the brain domain. Over 60% of children (n= 58) had two or more comorbid diagnoses. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the removal of comorbid diagnoses in the Attention, Affect Regulation, or Adaptive Functioning domains resulted in a change in 7 of 47 cases (15%) to an “At Risk” designation. Conclusions: These results highlight the complexity of presentation and the extent of impairment in the sample. The use of comorbid diagnoses to substantiate a “severe” designation in specific neurodevelopmental domains raises the question of whether there were false positive diagnoses. The complexity of determining causal relationships between exposure to PAE and early life adversity on developmental outcomes continues to be a challenge in this young population.
Details
- Title
- An investigation of the utility of the Australian Guide to the diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in young children
- Authors
- Sharon Dawe (Corresponding Author) - Griffith UniversityElizabeth Eggins (Author) - Griffith UniversityJoseph Betts (Author) - Griffith UniversityHeidi Webster (Author) - Sunshine Coast University HospitalTania Pomario (Author) - Griffith UniversityJessica Doak (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - PsychologyNed Chandler-Mather (Author) - Griffith UniversityDenise Hatzis (Author) - School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaHaydn Till (Author) - Gold Coast HospitalPaul Harnett (Author) - Griffith UniversityAndrew Wood (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - PsychologyDoug Shelton (Author) - Gold Coast Hospital
- Publication details
- Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Vol.47(3), pp.486-500
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1111/acer.15012
- ISSN
- 1530-0277; 0145-6008
- PMID
- 36810987
- Copyright note
- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.© 2023 The Authors. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Research Society on Alcohol.
- Grant note
- Department of Health, Australian Government
- Organisation Unit
- School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Psychology
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99710097202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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