Clinicians diagnosing FAS and other FASDs who lack antenatal report of in-pregnancy drinking because, for example, of incomplete medical records, must often assess gestational exposure years after delivery. The accuracy and validity of retrospective reports of maternal alcohol consumption in current practice are critically important to the diagnosis of FASDs (Hoyme, et al., 2005), and to making services available for affected children. In the absence of the facial features that distinguish FAS from other FASDs, valid information on maternal drinking is necessary to correctly diagnose FASDs (Astley, 2006; Bertrand, et al., 2005; Hoyme, et al., 2005; Stratton, et al., 1996). In practice, this information about drinking during pregnancy is more likely to be from retrospective report than peri-conceptional or in-pregnancy antenatal report. Similarly, epidemiological studies of the population incidence of FASDs typically rely on retrospective report from school-based and active case ascertainment studies (e.g., Aragon, et al., 2008a; Kodituwakku, et al., 2006; May, et al., 2000; 2005; 2006; 2007). Finally, because neurobehavioral outcomes are also necessary to diagnose FASDs, information on how retrospective reports of maternal drinking during pregnancy relate to child behavioral outcomes is also critical to validating those retrospective reports.
