Chile Fetal Alcohol Study

众所周知，患上胎儿酒精综合征的儿童会表现出发育迟缓。然而，几乎没有采取任何措施来确定生长相关荷尔蒙的干扰是否导致了这个问题。我们测量了暴露和未暴露儿童人群中IGF1、IGF2、IGF结合蛋白3和瘦素的水平，以确定酒精是否会导致生长发育的任何变化。IGF2水平在两组中都随着年龄的增长而增加，但酒精暴露组在3、4和5岁时水平明显更高。在暴露儿童中，IGF1水平在3岁和4岁时也较高，而瘦素水平在1岁和2岁时较低。由于未知的原因，暴露组的IGF1水平与生长参数之间的相关性比非暴露组低得多。这些数据表明，IGF2应作为产前酒精暴露的潜在标记物进行研究。 目前正在进行分析，以确定饮酒模式，如酗酒、每周饮酒天数、每天最大摄入量等对胎儿风险的影响。此外，正在研究饮酒是死产和早产的危险因素。在这一分析中，饮酒模式也被考虑在内。

It is well known that children who develop fetal alcohol syndrome show growth retardation. Yet little has been done to determine whether disruption of growth related hormones is responsible for this problem. We measured levels of IGF1, IGF2, IGF binding protein 3, and leptin in our population of exposed and unexposed children to determine whether alcohol caused any changes in growth. IGF2 levels increased in both groups as they got older, but the levels were significantly higher in the alcohol exposed group at 3, 4, and 5 years of age. In exposed children IGF1 levels were also higher at 3 and 4 years of age while leptin levels were lower at 1 and 2 years. For as yet unknown reasons, exposed subjects showed a much lower correlation between IGF1 levels and growth parameters than unexposed subjects. These data suggest that IGF2 should be explored as a potential marker for prenatal alcohol exposure. Analysis is ongoing to determine how patterns of drinking, e.g. binge drinking, number of days per week alcohol is consumed, maximum intake per day, affect risk to the fetus. In addition alcohol consumption as a risk factor for stillbirth and preterm delivery is being studied. For this analysis patterns of drinking are also being considered.