The main criteria for diagnosis of FASD is nervous system damage and alcohol exposure, with FAS including congenital malformations of the lips and growth deficiency.

Treatment needs vary but include psychoactive medications, behavioral interventions, tailored accommodations, case management, and public resources.

While other FASD conditions may not yet be included as an ICD or DSM-IV-TR diagnosis, they nonetheless pose significant impairment in functional behavior because of underlying brain damage.

Clear conclusions with universal validity are difficult to draw, since different ethnic groups show considerable genetic polymorphism for the hepatic enzymes responsible for ethanol detoxification.

[2] The most severe condition is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS),[1] which refers to individuals who have a specific set of birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders characteristic of the diagnosis.

[13][78] The following criteria must be fully met for a diagnosis of ARND or static encephalopathy:[2][19][71] Growth or height may range from normal to minimally deficient.

[14] Neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE) is the spectrum-wide term for the psychiatric, behavioral, and neurological symptoms of all FASDs.

[77] In terms of FASD, growth deficiency is defined as significantly below average height, weight or both due to prenatal alcohol exposure and can be assessed at any point in the lifespan.

The IOM system requires structural or neurological impairment for a diagnosis of FAS, but also allows a "complex pattern" of functional anomalies for diagnosing PFAS and ARND.

Because imaging procedures are expensive and relatively inaccessible to most people, diagnosis of FAS is not frequently made via structural impairments, except for microcephaly.

[88] During the third trimester, damage can be caused to the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory, learning, emotion, and encoding visual and auditory information, all of which can create neurological and functional CNS impairments as well.

[90] The examination revealed extensive brain damage, including microcephaly, migration anomalies, corpus callosum dysgenesis, and a massive neuroglial, leptomeningeal heterotopia covering the left hemisphere.

[91] FAS has also been linked to brainstem and cerebellar changes, agenesis of the corpus callosum and anterior commissure, neuronal migration errors, absent olfactory bulbs, meningomyelocele, and porencephaly.

A determination of a neurological problem must be made by a trained physician, and must not be due to a postnatal insult, such as meningitis, concussion, traumatic brain injury, etc.

There is no consensus on a specific pattern of functional impairments due to prenatal alcohol exposure[19] and only CDC guidelines label developmental delays as such,[72] so criteria (and FASD diagnoses) vary somewhat across diagnostic systems.

The proposed framework attempts to harmonize IOM, 4-Digit Diagnostic Code, CDC, and Canadian guidelines for measuring CNS damage vis-à-vis FASD evaluations and diagnosis.

The standardized approach is referred to as the Ten Brain Domains and encompasses aspects of all four diagnostic systems' recommendations for assessing CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure.

The framework provides clear definitions of brain dysfunction, specifies empirical data needed for accurate diagnosis, and defines intervention considerations that address the complex nature of FASD with the intention to avoid common secondary disabilities.

[33] Between 2017 and 2019 researchers made a breakthrough when they discovered a possible cure using neural stem cells (NSCs); they propose that if applied to a newborn, the damage can be reversed and prevent any lasting effects in the future.

The primary disabilities of FAS are the functional difficulties with which the child is born as a result of CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure.

[102] Six main secondary disabilities were identified in a University of Washington research study of 473 subjects diagnosed with FAS, PFAS (partial fetal alcohol syndrome), and ARND (alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder):[13][102] Two additional secondary disabilities exist for adults:[13][102] Eight factors were identified in the same study as universal protective factors that reduced the incidence rate of the secondary disabilities:[13][102] Malbin (2002) has identified the following areas of interests and talents as strengths that often stand out for those with FASD and should be utilized, like any strength, in treatment planning:[78] One study found that the people with FAS had a significantly shorter life expectancy.

[citation needed] In the 19th century, Benjamin Rush and Thomas Trotter lobbied against alcohol consumption during pregnancy to avoid dependence and mental deficiency in children.

[126] This contradicted the predominating belief at the time that heredity caused intellectual disability, poverty, and criminal behavior, which contemporary studies on the subjects usually concluded.

[123] The infants were studied by dysmorphologists Kenneth Lyons Jones and David Weyhe Smith, colleagues of Ulleland at University of Washington,[123] who identified a pattern of "craniofacial, limb, and cardiovascular defects associated with prenatal onset growth deficiency and developmental delay" in eight children.

[139] He reasoned that doing so would encourage prevention, believing that if people knew maternal alcohol consumption caused the syndrome, then abstinence during pregnancy would follow from patient education and public awareness.

[141] Smith (1981) described FAE as an "extremely important concept" to highlight the debilitating effects of brain damage, regardless of the growth or facial features.

[139] Currently, FAS[19][141][137] is the only expression of prenatal alcohol exposure defined by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems and assigned ICD-9 and diagnoses.

[147][148] While heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy is known to be damaging to the unborn child, the effects of low intakes remain debatable, particularly in the absence of randomized controlled trials (c.f.

[157][158] Darlena Cunha of Times Magazine interpreted the infographic as telling all women of child-bearing age not to drink at all, in case they might accidentally fall pregnant, and called them "scare tactics" and "shaming recommendations".

[159] Julie Beck said that the infographic insinuated that "your womb is a Schrodinger's box and you shouldn't pour alcohol into it unless you've peeked in there to be 100 percent sure the coast is clear".