Executive Functioning in Children and Adolescents Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol: A Meta-Analytic Review

Khoury, Jennifer E.; Milligan, Karen; Girard, Todd A.

doi:10.1007/s11065-015-9289-6

Cited by 78 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 119 publications

(147 reference statements)

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“…Together, these findings indicate widespread disruption of executive functions in children with FASD, at least as reported by their parents. This is largely consistent with recent meta-analyses of performancebased tests indicating that children with FASD are impaired in several aspects of their executive function, including working memory, inhibition, planning, set shifting and fluency (Khoury et al, 2015;Kingdon et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Recent meta-analyses examining studies that have compared children with FASD and typically-developing (TD) children have provided further support for the presence of executive dysfunction in the disorder. One such analysis yielded medium effect sizes for working memory and inhibition, and a large effect size for set shifting (Khoury, Milligan, & Girard, 2015). Another reported the largest effect sizes for planning, fluency, and set shifting, along with a moderate to large effect for working memory and a smaller effect for inhibition (Kingdon, Cardoso, & McGrath, 2015).…”

Section: Fasd and Executive Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parent rating of executive function in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A review of the literature and new data on Aboriginal Canadian children

Jaspreet

Abecassis

Casey

et al. 2016

Child Neuropsychology

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Aboriginal children in Canada are at high risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) but there is little research on the cognitive impact of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) in this population. This paper reviews the literature on parent report of executive functioning in children with FASD that used the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). New data on the BRIEF is then reported in a sample of 52 Aboriginal Canadian children with FASD for whom a primary caregiver completed the BRIEF. The children also completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. The results reveal mean scores in the impaired range for all three BRIEF index scores and seven of the eight scales, with the greatest difficulties found on the Working Memory, Inhibit and Shift scales. The majority of the children were reported as impaired on the index scores and scales, with Working Memory being most commonly impaired scale. On the performance-based tests, Trails B and Letter Fluency are most often reported as impaired, though the prevalence of impairment is greater for parent ratings than test performance. No gender difference is noted for the parent report, but the boys had slightly slower intellectual functioning and were more perseverative than the girls on testing. The presence of psychiatric comorbidity is unrelated to either BRIEF or test scores. These findings are generally consistent with prior studies indicating that parents observe considerable executive dysfunction in children with FASD, and that children with FASD may have more difficulty with executive functions in everyday life than is detected by laboratory-based tests alone.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Fasd and Executive Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent rating of executive function in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A review of the literature and new data on Aboriginal Canadian children

Jaspreet

Abecassis

Casey

et al. 2016

Child Neuropsychology

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“…Smoking tobacco during pregnancy can cause tissue damage affecting foetal brain development and has been associated with negative behavioural and cognitive outcomes throughout the lifetime, including conduct disorder, attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder, poor academic achievement and cognitive impairment . Alcohol use may also be a source of confounding in this research, as foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) can cause a variety of physical and cognitive impairments . Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with deficits in memory, attention span, verbal learning, motor function and a lower overall IQ .…”

Section: Commentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of prenatal marijuana exposure on neuropsychological outcomes in children aged 1‐11 years: A systematic review

Sharapova

Phillips

Sirocco

et al. 2018

Paediatric Perinatal Epid

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Background. Normalization of medicinal and recreational marijuana use has increased the importance of fully understanding effects of marijuana use on individual- and population-level health, including prenatal exposure effects on child development. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to examine the long-term effects of prenatal marijuana exposure on neuropsychological function in children aged 1–11 years. Methods. Primary research publications were searched from Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, CINAHL EbscoHost, Cochrane Library, Global Health, and ERIC (1980–2018). Eligible articles documented neuropsychological outcomes in children 1–11 years who had been prenatally exposed to marijuana. Studies of exposure to multiple prenatal drugs were included if results for marijuana exposure were reported separately from other substances. Data abstraction was independently performed by two reviewers using a standardized protocol. Results. The eligible articles (n=21) on data from seven independent longitudinal studies, had high quality based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Some analyses found associations (p<0.05) between prenatal marijuana exposure and decreased performance on memory, impulse control, problem solving, quantitative reasoning, verbal development, and visual analysis tests; as well as increased performance on attention and global motion perception tests. Limitations included concurrent use of other substances among study participants, potential underreporting and publication biases, non-generalizable samples, and limited published results preventing direct comparison of analyses. Conclusions. The specific effects of prenatal marijuana exposure remain unclear and warrant further research. The larger number of neuropsychological domains that exhibit decreased versus increased psychological and behavioral functions suggest that exposure to marijuana may be harmful for brain development and function.

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“…Prenatal alcohol exposure alters development of numerous brain regions, leading to structural and functional alterations in such areas as the basal ganglia, cerebellum, cortex and hippocampus (Moore et al, 2014) as well as white matter tracts (Taylor et al, 2015;Uban et al, 2017). Alcohol-induced neuropathology can lead to behavioral alterations and impairments in learning, attention, executive functioning, and emotional regulation, all of which can cause serious problems in school and daily life (Khoury et al, 2015;Mattson et al, 2011;Norman et al, 2013). Similarly, animal studies have also shown that developmental alcohol exposure alters brain development, producing a variety of behavioral alterations, including hyperactivity, increased anxiety-related behaviors, and impaired learning and memory (Schneider et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Alcohol and Cannabinoid Exposure during the Brain Growth Spurt on Behavioral Development in Rats

Breit

Zamudio

Thomas

2019

Preprint

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Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug among pregnant women. Moreover, over half of pregnant women who are consuming cannabis are also consuming alcohol; however, the consequences of combined prenatal alcohol and cannabis exposure on fetal development are not well understood. The current study examined behavioral development following exposure to ethanol (EtOH) and/or CP-55,940 (CP), a cannabinoid receptor agonist. From postnatal days (PD) 4-9, a period of brain development equivalent to the third trimester, Sprague-Dawley rats received EtOH (5.25g/kg/day) or sham intubation, as well as CP (0.4 mg/kg/day) or vehicle. All subjects were tested on open field activity (PD 18-21), spatial learning (PD 40-46), and elevated plus maze (PD 30) tasks. Both EtOH and CP increased locomotor activity in the open field, and the combination produced more severe overactivity than either exposure alone. Similarly, increases in thigmotaxis in the Morris water maze were caused by either EtOH or CP alone, and were more severe with combined exposure, although only EtOH impaired spatial learning. Finally, developmental CP, but not EtOH, increased time spent in the open arms on the elevated plus maze. Overall, these data indicate that EtOH and CP produce some independent domain-specific effects, but many effects of EtOH and CP on behavior were additive.Importantly, these data suggest that combined prenatal exposure to alcohol and cannabis may be more damaging to the developing fetus, which has implications for the lives of affected individuals and families and also for establishing public health policy.

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Executive Functioning in Children and Adolescents Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol: A Meta-Analytic Review

Cited by 78 publications

References 119 publications

Parent rating of executive function in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A review of the literature and new data on Aboriginal Canadian children

Parent rating of executive function in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A review of the literature and new data on Aboriginal Canadian children

Effects of prenatal marijuana exposure on neuropsychological outcomes in children aged 1‐11 years: A systematic review

The Effects of Alcohol and Cannabinoid Exposure during the Brain Growth Spurt on Behavioral Development in Rats

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