What information does the Alaska FAS Surveillance Project collect?
There is no standard clinical definition of FAS to date. Alcohol-related birth defects exhibit a wide range of physical and functional features so the diagnosis of FAS is often subjective. This makes it difficult to compare the number of cases between different states or regions. A surveillance definition is used to standardize the criteria by which a determination of case status is made. The Alaska FAS Surveillance Project uses a surveillance case definition developed by the National CDC FAS Surveillance Network (FASSNet).
