Physician awareness and screening for fetal alcohol syndrome.

This study is concerned with physicians' consistency, aggressiveness, and perception of importance in screening children for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Although irreversible, early intervention can improve an affected infant's survival and success in developing to his/her best potential. This study surveyed obstetricians. Pediatricians, family and general practitioners in San Antonio, Texas in 1993 and asked them to express their perceptions of the factors most important in FAS births. They also responded to questions about the rank of importance of FAS compared to other congenital disorders and indicated that alcoholism was the most influential factor in FAS births and that FAS was the third most common congenital disorder among their pediatric patients. The study further explored the physicians' clinical method to screen for FAS and their estimates of how many of their colleagues evaluate their patients for the syndrome.