ABSTRACT
These problems arise where alcohol intake is more than 80 g/day (eight units per day = eight glasses of wine or four pints of lager/day). The adverse effects of excessive alcohol intake in pregnancy could be fetal or maternal. The fetal risks include spontaneous miscarriages, congenital malformations such as cardiac anomalies, microcephaly, skeletal anomalies and microophthalmia. Some of the malformations including microcephaly and FGR form part of the FAS. Other risks to the fetus are impaired intellect and neurodevelopmental delay. In addition, the pregnancy is at risk of preterm delivery. These consequences are often compounded by lifestyle factors such as smoking and drugs (which tend to be more common in alcoholics). The consequences of alcohol on the mother include liver failure, heart failure, encephalopathy, anaemia, vitamin B deficiency – leading to Wernicke-Korsakoff’s encephalopathy and gastrointestinal disturbances, such as gastritis and pancreatitis.
