Background: Despite several diagnostic guidelines, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) remain underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed, delaying the care of these patients and support for families.
Objective: This study aims to help professionals caring for these children and their families to suspect this diagnosis earlier and to provide the most appropriate follow-up.
Methods: A retrospective chart review with monocentric recruitment was performed at the Genetics Unit of the University Hospital of Reunion Island. A total of 147 children and adolescents with FASDs were included.
Results: Prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with paternal alcohol consumption in 42.9%, and a high rate of prematurity (33.3%) was observed. Sixty percent of children or adolescents were placed in foster families. Learning difficulties without cognitive deficits were found in 65.8% of cases (50/76). Postural control and fine motor skills disabilities were described, respectively, in 54.7% (35/64) and 72.5% (50/69) of cases. A systematic genetic assessment was carried out, identifying in these FASD patients an associated Copy Number Variation (CNVs) in 22.6% of cases.
Conclusion: Children with FASDs combine significant vulnerabilities, associating exposure to alcohol during the preconception and/or the prenatal period, prematurity, complex familial and sociocultural living conditions, and a genetic anomaly in almost a quarter of cases.
Keywords: Reunion Island; clinical description; fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.