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Updated: Aug 9, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Brief report: frequency of maternal cocaine use during pregnancy and infant neurobehavioral outcome
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA. mschuler@pediatrics
Objective:
To examine the effects of frequency of prenatal maternal cocaine use on infant neurobehavioral outcome beyond the immediate postpartum period, controlling for other substance use.
Methods:
At 2 weeks postpartum, the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS) was administered to infants (N = 55) and their mothers were asked about their prenatal drug use. Mother/infant dyads were placed in one of two groups based on the number of days of reported cocaine use during pregnancy: high frequency (n = 23, > 75th percentile reported days of use) or low frequency (n = 32, < 75th percentile).
Results:
Infants in the high frequency cocaine group had worse BNBAS excitability scores than infants in the low frequency cocaine group, when other substance use was controlled statistically.
Conclusions:
High frequency of maternal cocaine use during pregnancy is associated with poorer infant neurobehavioral outcome beyond the early postpartum period, when other substance use is controlled.
