摘要：Introduction. Ethanol is the most widely used drug worldwide. Its consumption has beenincreasing, and it is reported even during childbearing. Prenatal exposure to ethanol canlead to irreversible damages of the fetus. Knowledge about this risk could prevent thesedamages. There is no information about knowledge of the Italian students on this issue.Methods. Therefore the aim of this study was to describe the awareness of the Italianstudents attending the last year of secondary school about risk of gestational alcoholdrinking for the delivering mother and the fetus. An online multiple-choice anonymoussurvey for students was used and e-mailed to the all Italian secondary schools.Results. The respondents were 9.921 and the obtained results evidenced that that youngfemales are more informed than males, and students in Northern and Central Italy arebetter informed than those in the South, especially on general aspects. The most ofrespondents knows that alcohol consumption during pregnancy can damage the fetus.However, many youngsters failed to translate this belief into the practice.Conclusions. In conclusion, interventions are needed to enhance knowledge and preventthese damages, and health professionals, with nurses in the first row are entitled toprovide education on this topic.
