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Up to three per cent of Canadians — or about one million people — could have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and researchers say this is probably an underestimate.

A report released on Tuesday by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health upends current estimates of the prevalence of FASD prevalence in Canada to date. The results are based on a survey of 2,555 seven- to nine-year-olds in the Greater Toronto Area, one of the largest sample sizes used in a Canadian study and according to the team’s lead researcher, Dr. Svetlana Popova, the first survey reflective of Canada’s diverse population.

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“We are more confident now,” she says, that “FASD can happen to anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status.”

Previous Canadian studies on FASD have focused on narrow groups such as kids in care. They have also relied on medical records to estimate the prevalence of the disorder.

But as Popova explains, many children with FASD are misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. So her team — which included leading geneticists, psychologists and paediatricians — independently assessed each student.