Abstract
The accumulation of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium of term newborns has been described as one potential biomarker of maternal alcohol use during pregnancy. FAEEs accumulate in multiple alcohol-exposed fetal tissues and in the placenta. Limited research has focused on the identification of the premature newborn exposed to alcohol in utero. We hypothesized that maternal alcohol use occurs in a significant proportion of premature deliveries and that this exposure can be detected as elevated placental FAEEs. The goals of this study were to 1) determine the prevalence of maternal alcohol use in the premature newborn and 2) investigate whether placental FAEEs could identify those newborns with fetal alcohol exposure. This prospective observational study evaluated 80 placentas from 80 women after premature delivery. Subjects were interviewed for alcohol intake and placental FAEEs were quantified via GC/MS. Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) Curves were generated to evaluate the ability of placental FAEEs to predict maternal drinking during pregnancy. Adjusted ROC curves were generated to adjust for gestational age, maternal smoking, and illicit drug use. 30% of the subjects admitted to drinking alcohol during pregnancy and approximately 14% answered questions indicative of problem drinking (designated AUDIT+). The specific FAEEs ethyl stearate and linoleate, as well as combinations of oleate + linoleate + linolenate (OLL) and of OLL + stearate, were significantly (p<0.05) elevated in placentas from AUDIT+ pregnancies. Adjusted ROC Curves generated areas under the curve ranging from 88–93% with negative predictive values of 97% for AUDIT+ pregnancies. We conclude that nearly one third of premature pregnancies were alcohol-exposed, and that elevated placental FAEEs hold great promise to accurately determine maternal alcohol use, particularly heavy use, in pregnancies complicated by premature delivery.
Highlights
One of the most reliable direct biological markers of prenatal exposure to alcohol in the term newborn is elevated fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), formed via esterification of alcoholPLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0126552 May 15, 2015Placental Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters in Preterm Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancy in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
The goals of the current study were to evaluate maternal alcohol use in premature newborns delivered at 1500 grams birth weight, to determine whether FAEEs were elevated in placental tissue, and to determine if placental FAEEs could be indicative of fetal alcohol exposure
The median gestational age of the premature newborn was 28 weeks with a median birth weight of the newborn was 1060 grams. 18% of the premature babies were small for gestational age (SGA)
Summary
The goals of this study were to 1) determine the prevalence of maternal alcohol use in the premature newborn and 2) investigate whether placental FAEEs could identify those newborns with fetal alcohol exposure. The goals of the current study were to evaluate maternal alcohol use in premature newborns delivered at 1500 grams birth weight, to determine whether FAEEs were elevated in placental tissue, and to determine if placental FAEEs could be indicative of fetal alcohol exposure
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