The Significance of Tetrogenic Effect of Alcohol on the Fetus within the Educational Programs of Physicians and Its Practical Application

Background: The importance of the problem of drinking alcohol and further, negative consequences in the prenatal period and before planning the pregnancy is not understood sufficiently by the women as well as by the doctors. The goal of our research was to determine Russian specialists’ current awareness p regarding the problem of teratogenic effects of alcohol on the fetus and to illustrate the importance of introducing this knowledge into their educational process to the specialist.

Materials and Methods: To achieve this goal, an anonymous survey was conducted with 146 obstetrician-gynecologists (OG), 70 neonatologists (N), 56 pediatric psychiatrists (PP), 53 pediatricians (P), 46 pediatric neurologists (based at medical and prophylactic institutions in Eastern Siberia Irkutsk in Russia. The questionnaire consisted of 28 questions (htt://netfas.net/pro/).

Results: The result of the study showed that most doctors were not sufficiently informed about the teratogenic effects of alcohol on the developing fetus, and in particular, its relation to FAS / FASD. It was established that neurologists were more aware in these matters with significant p <0.05 However, obstetrician-gynecologists, who are the primary preventive link to prevent alcohol consumption in the prenatal period and in the period of planning pregnancy showed lesser knowledge than the neurologists in this regard .

Conclusions: Thus, this study concluded that it is necessary to the specialist and other researchers to pay attention in different medical and social spheres that the problem has really become quite urgent for the future generations also, these topics related to the problem of the effects of alcohol on the fetus should be introduced In the physicians ‘education curriculum. Physicians should pay special attention to pregnant women who were taking alcohol even in small doses, as there is no safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy.