Maternal risk factors for fetal alcohol syndrome in the Western cape province of South Africa: a population-based study.

Objectives: We defined risk factors for fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in a region with the highest documented prevalence of FAS in the world.

Methods: We compared mothers of 53 first-grade students with FAS (cases) with 116 randomly selected mothers of first-grade students without FAS (controls).

Results: Differences between case and control mothers in our study population existed regarding socioeconomic status, religiosity, education, gravidity, parity, and marital status.