Evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders-A systematic review

Introduction: Brain function deficits cause strong negative impacts for the everyday lives of children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Therefore, evidence-based intervention pro-grams that are specifically designed for patients with FASD are needed but still scarce. The aim of the presented article is a systematic literature review of evidence-based intervention strategies for children and adolescents with FASD. Materials and methods: A comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted in several relevant databases to identify randomized-controlled intervention studies for children and adolescents with FASD. Results: We identified 25 randomized-controlled studies regarding interventions in FASD. Overall, evidence indicating that some therapeutic interventions are effective in children and adolescents with FASD was found. Even though evidence-based interventions rarely lead to improvements of performance into a normal range, those measures can alleviate negative consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure and relieve daily burdens. Conclusion: There are only a few randomized-controlled trials regarding therapy research for children and adolescents with FASD. Their results indicate that especially the combination of parent and child sessions present a promising approach for the treatment of FASD. Positive treatment effects of interventions seem to be domain specific, except for interventions regarding self-regulation or social interaction. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Paediatric Neurology Society.

Automated summary

The article presents a systematic literature review of evidence-based intervention strategies for children and adolescents with FASD, identifying some effective therapeutic interventions in these patients. While improvements into a normal range are rare, the interventions can alleviate negative consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure and relieve daily burdens.