Associations between low-moderate prenatal alcohol exposure and brain development in childhood.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Non-randomized observational cohort study comparing structural neuroimaging outcomes across exposure groups.
PubMed 38555806 · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103595
What was done
Women reported the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy. Magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion imaging were performed on 143 children aged 6 to 8 years across three groups: low-moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) in trimester 1 only (n = 44), low-moderate PAE throughout gestation (n = 58), and unexposed controls (n = 41). FreeSurfer was used to derive cortical volume, surface area, and thickness across 34 regions per hemisphere, alongside diffusion metrics of white matter tracts. Comparisons were adjusted for age, sex, and intracranial volume.
What was found
After adjustments, children with low-moderate PAE throughout gestation had significantly smaller right caudal anterior cingulate cortex volume (p FDR = 0.045) and surface area (p FDR = 0.008), as well as smaller right cingulum tract cross-sectional area (p FWE < 0.05) compared with unexposed controls. The abstract reported no statistically significant alterations for the trimester-1-only exposure group.
Why it matters
This study provides evidence that low-to-moderate alcohol consumption sustained throughout pregnancy is associated with altered cingulate cortex and white matter microstructural development in mid-childhood.
Limits
Exposure assessment relied entirely on maternal self-report, introducing potential recall and social desirability biases. The sample size is modest (n = 143 across three groups). Clinical, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of the structural differences were not reported in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports A University of Melbourne 3D imaging study showed that low maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy causes alterations in offspring facial morphology persisting up to age eight and weaker connections in the right anterior cingulate cortex.