Cognitive and executive functions, social cognition and sense of coherence in adults with fetal alcohol syndrome

Abstract

Background: Primary disabilities in children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) are the results of alcohol's teratogen effect on the fetal brain. Reduced cognitive and executive functions and social cognition are examples of such disabilities. Little is known about primary disabilities in adults with FAS as well as their sense of coherence (SoC). There is thus a need for knowledge about FAS in adulthood. Aims: To investigate cognitive and executive functions, social cognition and SoC in adults with FAS. Methods: Twenty adults with FAS (mean age: 30 years) were compared with 20 individuals matched on gender and age. Berg's Card-sorting Test-64, the Tower of Hanoi, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, Digit Span, Faux Pas and the Swedish version of Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Scale (SoC-29) were used. Results: The FAS group had a weak SoC and displayed deficits in the neuropsychological tests sensitive to cognitive and executive functions and social cognition. The FAS group's median SoC score was 112, lower than the comparison group's median of 133 (P < 0.001). The FAS group had median scores of 29.0 on Raven's Matrices. The median for Digit Span was 5 forwards and 3 backwards, lower than in the comparison group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Reduced cognitive and executive functions and impaired social cognition are assumed to have a major impact on life for adults with FAS. We suggest that the findings showing that adults with FAS had a weak SoC, with particularly low scores on the manageability scale, reflect their experiences of living with those primary disabilities. Clinical implications: This study may enhance healthcare for individuals prenatally exposed to alcohol. In general, it contributes with knowledge about this group of individuals who need to be more visible in healthcare, and particularly, it demonstrates some of the neuropsychological disabilities they might have.

• Adulthood
• Cognitive and executive functions
• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Sense of coherence
• Social cognition

Acknowledgements

The Alcohol Research Council of the Swedish Alcohol Retailing Monopoly and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare supported the research presented in this article. There are no conflicts of interest including specific financial interests and relationships relevant to this article. We thank research assistant Maja Jansson for her important work with data collection, and all of the participants in this research for their cooperation. We also thank Kerstin Strömland for critically reviewing the manuscript.

Disclosure of interest: The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

Supplementary material available online

Supplementary Appendix