Chile Fetal Alcohol Study

众所周知，患有胎儿酒精综合症的儿童表现为生长迟缓。然而，很少有人能确定生长相关激素的破坏是否导致了这个问题。我们测量了接触酒精和未接触酒精的儿童中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变化。随着年龄的增长，两组的IGF2水平都有所上升，但在3岁、4岁和5岁时，酒精暴露组的IGF2水平明显更高。在暴露的儿童中，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。由于尚不清楚的原因，暴露受试者的IGF1水平与生长参数之间的相关性远低于未暴露受试者。这些数据表明，IGF2应该作为产前酒精暴露的潜在标记物加以探索。

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.