Fetal alcohol syndrome: literature review (2001-2012)

Abstract

Objective: to present a review of the literature on the main approaches that lead women to use alcohol to list and discuss: (a) the gaps in scientific production on the subject of fetal alcohol syndrome; and (b) the explanatory hypotheses presented for the syndrome. Methods: this is a literature review from 2001 to 2012. The searched indexes were SciELO, Bireme, Lilacs, Medline, PubMed Central and Teses.usp. The keywords searched in Portuguese were: fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol during pregnancy; and in English: fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol in pregnancy. Results: we used 32 bibliographic sources that were presented in the form of a table; according to the results found in the literature and presented in this table, the main complications of FAS are: spontaneous abortion; stillborn; premature birth; sudden infant death syndrome; growth retardation; physical, mental, behavioral and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications; malnutrition; malformations related to the nervous system; neuroteratogenic damage. Conclusions: alcohol consumption during pregnancy has far-reaching effects, so it is incumbent on antenatal care providers to identify and address pregnancy alcohol use with their patients, in addition to improved methods of collecting maternal risk data necessary to progress in this area of ​​study in humans, the subject is important and needs greater attention not only from health professionals but also from society, especially women, since women today occupy a greater position in society.