Publications

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with a range of adverse offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes. Several studies suggest that PAE modifies DNA methylation in offspring cells and tissues, providing evidence for a potential mechanistic link to FASD (FASD). This paper systematically reviewed existing evidence on the extent to which maternal alcohol use during pregnancy is associated with offspring DNA methylation.

The Asking Questions about Alcohol in Pregnancy (AQUA) study, established in 2011, is a pre-birth cohort of 1570 mother and child pairs designed to assess the effects of low to moderate prenatal alcohol exposure and sporadic binge drinking on long-term child development. The current follow-up of the children, now aged 6 to 8 years, aims to strengthen our understanding of the relationship between these levels of prenatal alcohol exposure and neuropsychological functioning, facial dysmorphology, and brain structure & function. Published 2021

Language disorder is highly prevalent in youth justice; however, orofacial, oromotor, speech, and voice anomalies have been largely overlooked. The aims of this exploratory study published in 2022 were to identify the prevalence of orofacial, oromotor, speech, and voice anomalies among adolescents in youth detention and to examine how these compare between adolescents with and without PAE.

There is a paucity of prospective longitudinal studies examining the associations between maternal use of alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy and the risk of cannabis use in offspring. The aim of this study was to examine the association between prenatal alcohol and tobacco exposures and offspring cannabis use.

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), including cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, are characterised by impaired development of the early central nervous system, impacting cognitive and/or physical function. Early detection of NDD enables infants to be fast-tracked to early intervention services, optimising outcomes. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants may experience early life factors increasing their risk of neurodevelopmental vulnerability, which persist into later childhood, further compounding the health inequities experienced by First Nations peoples in Australia. The LEAP-CP prospective cohort study will investigate the efficacy of early screening programmes, implemented in Queensland, Australia to earlier identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants who are 'at risk' of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes (NDO) or NDD.

This paper published in 2022 aimed to document alcohol use during pregnancy and determine predictors of ongoing use, including knowledge and agreement with national alcohol guideline recommendations.