Fetal Alcohol Exposure and IQ at Age 8: Evidence from a Population-Based Birth-Cohort Study

Abstract

We found that four genetic variants in alcohol metabolising genes in 4167 children were strongly related to lower IQ at age 8, as was a risk allele score based on these 4 variants. This effect was only seen amongst the offspring of mothers who were moderate drinkers (1-6 units alcohol per week during pregnancy (per allele effect estimates were -1.80 (95% CI= -2.63 to -0.97) p=0.00002, with no effect among children whose mothers abstained during pregnancy (0.16 (95%CI= -1.05 to 1.36) p=0.80), p-value for interaction =0.009). A further genetic variant associated with alcohol metabolism in mothers was associated with their child's IQ, but again only among mothers who drank during pregnancy.