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Offspring Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure from Birth to 25 Years: The Seattle Prospective Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

Before alcohol was generally known to cause birth defects, NIAAA in 1974 began funding a population-based Seattle study on alcohol use and pregnancy outcome. Women receiving prenatal care by mid-pregnancy were recruited (N = 1,529) and interviewed at home. Approximately 500 offspring exposed to a range of alcohol levels were examined on 11 occasions between day 1 and 25 years. Neuropsychological and neurobehavioral performance measures are correlated with prenatal alcohol dose, without substantial confounding by socio-demographic or rearing conditions, smoking, nutrition, or other drugs. Deficits in attention, arithmetic skill, spatial-visual memory, and IQ, as well as increased alcohol problems and psychiatric disorders are among offspring outcomes correlated at several ages with maternal drinking during and before pregnancy recognition. Findings are not confined to women who believed they had alcohol problems. Not all exposed offspring appear affected.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this manuscript has been funded since 1974 by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Grant No. R-37-AA01455-01-32. This article is based upon an invited address, “How a Mother’s Drinking Can Influence Her Child’s Development, even into Adulthood,” given in recognition of the author’s receipt of the Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (formerly known as the Association of Medical School Psychologists) 2004 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Research. The address was presented at the Annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, August, 2005.

The author gratefully acknowledges her original co-investigators, Joan and Donald C. Martin, the University Hospital and Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, and the important support of NIAA staff, especially Kenneth Warren, Laurie Foudin, Mary DuFour, and Rosalind Breslow. Special thanks go to the author’s long-time colleagues Fred L. Bookstein, Paul D. Sampson, and Helen M. Barr for their dedication and statistical expertise, and Cindy Herman, Betty Darby, Heather Carmichael Olson, Paul D. Connor, Janet Huggins, Kieran O’Malley, Therese Grant, Kristi Covell, Pam Phipps, and Kia Kornas, for their help in carrying out this 32 year project. We also thank our dysmorphology colleagues; David W. Smith, Kenneth L. Jones, James H. Hanson, John M. Graham, Jr., and Sterling K. Clarren, who diagnosed and referred many patients with FAS and FAE to us. The author is deeply grateful to the 500 subjects who have repeatedly responded to the call to be seen again for each new wave of data collection, and to their mothers who originally signed on to the study. Their commitment and faithfulness, and their belief in the public health importance of this work, have made this work possible and worthwhile.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Mail Stop 359112, Seattle, WA, 98195-9112, USA

    Ann Streissguth

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Streissguth, A. Offspring Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure from Birth to 25 Years: The Seattle Prospective Longitudinal Study. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 14, 81–101 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-007-9067-6

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