USDTL is honored to announce that our Assistant Laboratory Director of Research, Aileen Baldwin, Ph.D., MPH is a recent coauthor of two published peer-reviewed articles focused on the increased prevalence of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE).

“Limitations of Nail and Hair Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) Levels to Assess Maternal Alcohol Use,” was published in the Journal of Drug Dependence and Addiction in July 2019. The study was conducted at a maternity hospital in Montevideo, Uruguay between 2016-2017 in efforts to determine Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) levels in nail and hair samples collected at the time of delivery in comparison to Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) levels. The research obtained from this analysis finds that EtG levels are of limited value for the assessment of maternal alcohol use during the third trimester of pregnancy or in determining a newborn’s risk for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD). This report also suggests PEth is the preferred method to detect alcohol use during the later stages of pregnancy.

In January 2020, “Prevalence of alcohol use in late pregnancy,” was published in Pediatric Research. The study highlights the increased prevalence of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) specifically in the state of West Virginia (WV) and identifies risk factors associated with PAE including smoking, preterm birth, lower gestational birth weight, and a reduction in breastfeeding. The findings from this study demonstrate that the detection of PEth in residual dried blood spots is an effective surveillance screening tool to improve methods for detection of prevalence estimate of PAE.  The use of PEth screening can provide accurate and timely estimates of PAE, which is vital to inform public health workers, policymakers, researchers, and clinicians to develop and promote effective prevention strategies to lower PAE prevalence and provide targeted interventions and treatment services for infants affected by PAE.

This study was picked up by several news outlets, see them all on our In The News page.

Congratulations to Aileen and all of our research collaborators on your continued success in research development!

To read more, click on the publication links below:

• Limitations of Nail and Hair Ethyl Glucuronide (Etg) Levels to Assess Maternal Alcohol Use
• Prevalence of alcohol use in late pregnancy

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