Associations between white matter micro- and macro-structure and attention in 6-7-year-old children with low to moderate prenatal alcohol exposure

Abstract

Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with changes to the brain’s white matter, which may underpin attention problems observed in this population. Less is known about the effect of low to moderate exposure. This study investigated white matter correlates of attention in children with low to moderate levels of prenatal alcohol exposure and controls whose mothers abstained from alcohol. We also examined whether associations differed between alcohol exposure in trimester one only or throughout pregnancy. A total of 129 children aged 6-7-years from the prospective Asking Questions about Alcohol in pregnancy (AQUA) cohort (trimester one alcohol exposure n = 47; exposure throughout pregnan..