• Kerstin Strömland, Liana O Ventura, Layla Mirzaei, Keyla Fontes de Oliveira, José Marcelino Bandim, Adriana Parente Ivo, and Carlos Brandt.
• Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Birth Defects Res. Part A Clin. Mol. Teratol. 2015 Mar 1; 103 (3): 178-85.

BackgroundThe objective was to investigate the frequency of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and ophthalmologic anomalies in orphanage children in Brazil.MethodsA prospective study was performed on 94 children living in an orphanage in Brazil. The children were examined by a multidisciplinary team consisting of specialists in pediatrics, neurology, psychology, neuropsychiatry, and ophthalmology.ResultsThe main reasons for living in the orphanage, in 61% of the children, were negligence, child abuse, and abandonment. Of all the children studied, 50% had mothers with known alcohol abuse and 47% had one or more diagnoses of neurodevelopmental/behavioral and/or cognitive deficits. General developmental delay was found in 18%, intellectual disability in 3%, cognitive impairment in 27%, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in 14%, and autism in 3%. Altogether 17% had FASD, comprising three children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), six with partial FAS, and seven with alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. 16% had ophthalmological findings such as poor vision, strabismus, and dysmorphology of the optic nerves. Twenty-eight children (30%) were adopted from the orphanage; of these, six had FASD (two FAS, three partial FAS, one alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder), five had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and eight had developmental delay.ConclusionNearly half of the children living in the orphanage had neurodevelopmental disorders and a considerable number showed signs of damage from prenatal alcohol exposure. A broader look at the problem of FASD in Brazil and other South American countries is desirable to document the burden of disease and provide data for targeting prevention efforts.© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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