Beating fetal alcohol syndrome in Alaska

TAMAR BEN-YOSEF

October 23, 2008 at 10:23AM AKST

The prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Alaska is higher than in many other states, says Dr. Christiane Brems, professor of psychology from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Brems, co-director of Behavioral Health Research and Services at the University, and some of her colleagues are heading a new initiative in Alaska that will hopefully help with prevention of the syndrome and its early detection, where it can’t be prevented.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently awarded a three-year grant of more than $1 million to develop the Arctic Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Regional Training Center at UAA.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a disorder in which permanent birth defects occurs in newborns whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy.

The Alaska training center will be directed by Brems. Four similar centers are operating elsewhere in the country. This is the first in Alaska.

“This project is of great significance for Alaska and will draw tremendous community interest,” Brems said.

Sarah Dewane, project manager for the training center, said its purpose will be to train health care professionals, including social workers, speech and language therapists, physicians, nurses and psychologists, as well as students in the health professions to assure that providers have had some exposure to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the illness as they encounter at-risk groups in the various communities.  

This goal will be reached through the development of special lectures, seminars and other means.

Anyone interested in the training or support and help educating their community need only call the center and ask for it. All resources to be developed will be free to providers and educators in the region.

The training will help the various professionals and educators with situations such as speaking to pregnant mothers who drink, parents with children diagnosed with the illness and practically any other situation that can help people understand how to deal with and prevent the syndrome.

“We’ll be steering all activities out of our center here but will deliver training statewide, some on-site in rural regions, some through online delivery, some using video, some using audio,” Brems said. “We will take a multi-media approach.”

Dewane explained that due to Alaska’s unique geography and the fact that so many of the communities in need of the support and education, the center will conduct much of its training through teleconference and travel.

The training center began operating on Sept. 30, but at this stage it is still conducting a needs assessment to determine how to best build the curricula for the various disciplines that will eventually use the training, Dewane said.

The center will be working with a group of national consultants who are specialists in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, including psychologists, physicians, occupational therapists, and speech and language specialists.

The exact format of the training has not yet been decided and will depend on the results of the needs assessment research.

Several years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put into place a surveillance program called the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Surveillance Network, through which some states, including Alaska, began keeping detailed records of cases of the disorder.

Among these states with regular and reliable surveillance, Alaska revealed the highest rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

In Alaska, the rate of infants who enter the world with a range of concerns and challenges to warrant a diagnosis of the disorder is 1.5 of every 1,000 live births. Those born with what is termed fetal alcohol exposure, or relatively mild symptoms, are born at the rate of 16.3 of every 1,000 live births.

It is unknown whether amount, frequency or timing of alcohol consumption during pregnancy causes a difference in degree of damage done to the fetus, according to Dewane, thus, the current recommendation is not to drink at all during pregnancy.  

In October 2000, Alaska and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration entered into a five-year, $29 million agreement to create an infrastructure for a comprehensive, integrated approach to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder prevention and systems improvement.

Dewane said they hope to be in the position to start training next spring.