Alarming Prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Exposure in a Mediterranean City

Abstract: The prevalence of gestational ethanol exposure and subsequent fetal exposure has been assessed in a cohort of motherinfant dyads in a Mediterranean city (Barcelona, Spain)by meconium analysis of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) after showing in this population a high prevalence of meconium opiates (8.7%), cocaine (4.4%), and cannabis (5.3%). Of the 353 meconium samples analysed for FAEEs, 159 (45%) contained a total amount of secen FAEES equal or above 2nmol/g meconium, the cutoff internationally accepted to differentiate heavy maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy from occassional use or no use at all. No parental sociodemographic differences or maternal features differentiated exposed from unexposed newbornd. The prevalence of gestational consumption of ethanol was similar between women using and not using drugs of abuse during pregnancy (45.7% and 44.7% of samples with total FAEEs equal or higher than 2nmol/g meconium, respectively). Meconium samples from newborns exposed in utero to ethanol, and positive for at least one illicit drug (cocaine, opiates, or cannabis), had total FAEEs and fice of nine individual FAEEs statistically higher than the meconium samples that were negative for the most frequently used illicit drugs of abuse. Amogn the most prevalent FAEEs, oleic acid ethyl ester showed the best correlation to total FAEE concentration followed by palmitoleic acid ethyl ester. This study, which hilights a 45% ethanol consumption during pregnancy in a low socioeconomic status cohort, may serve as an eye opener for European that gestational alcohol exposure is notendemic only in areas outside Europe.