A broad and recent study into the health, social and legal outcomes of individuals with diagnosed or probable FASD.
Aotearoa New Zealand has a comparative drinking culture and indigenous population to Canada, but sadly no full study on FASD has yet been undertaken here. We can assume similar outcomes to this Canadian study.
Entitled 'Health, social and legal outcomes of individuals with diagnosed or at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Canadian example', the study worked with 160 people with FASD over four years and had some sobering, but unsurprising outcomes.
• Individuals with FASD had high rates of physical (38%) and mental health (78%) comorbidities, and 50% used substances.
• Individuals with FASD were involved in the child welfare (75%) and criminal justice (30%) systems.
• Individuals with FASD involved in the child welfare system were over 4 times more likely to have anxiety disorders.
