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Psychiatric comorbidity in foetal alcohol syndrome

Division of Mental Health, Social and Developmental Psychiatry, St George’s, University of London, London SW17 0RE, e-mail: rmukherj{at}sgul.ac.uk,

Sheila Hollins, Professor

Division of Mental Health, Social and Developmental Psychiatry, St George’s, University of London

Jeremy Turk, Reader in Developmental Psychiatry

Division of Clinical Development Sciences, St George’s, University of London

With increasing media interest and public awareness and reports from North America regarding the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS; Famy et al, 1998), concerns are being raised locally as to the knowledge of mental healthcare professionals of this issue. Clinical work with this group suggested that the wider mental health community has limited knowledge of FAS as a condition, despite international figures suggesting a prevalence rate of 1% in the community (O’Leary, 2004). Hence one of us (R.A.S.M.) devised a brief questionnaire to determine mental health practitioners’ knowledge of the condition. The questionnaire was used at three local academic programmes attended by a mix of mental healthcare professionals.

Everyone (n=33) had heard of FAS as a condition but only five professionals felt able to recognise it. One person (a psychologist) considered FAS in the differential diagnosis and nine knew where to refer a person with FAS if the diagnosis was suspected or found. Only one individual with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) was known to those professionals attending the programmes.

These results are similar to those from other studies (Nanson et al, 1995) and highlight the need for education in this area in order to guide UK practitioners in the recognition of the condition and what can be done to help affected individuals and their families. We believe there is an urgent need for resources to undertake this task.

References

FAMY, C., STREISSGUTH, A.P.&UNIS, A.S. (1998) Mental illness in adults with fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol effects. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 552 –554.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

NANSON, J. L., BOLARIA, R., SNYDER, R. E., et al (1995) Physician awareness of fetalalcohol syndrome: survey of pediatricians and general practitioners. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 152, 1071 –1076.[Abstract]

O’LEARY, C. M. (2004) Fetal alcohol syndrome: diagnosis, epidemiology and developmental outcomes. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 40, 2 –7.[CrossRef][Medline]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mukherjee, R. A.S. Articles by Turk, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Mukherjee, R. A.S. Articles by Turk, J.