Enhanced prevalence of ankyloglossia with maternal cocaine use

A series of 500 term neonates was examined in a well-baby nursery, 68 of whom tested positive for maternal cocaine use. From logistic multiple regression equations, weight and crown-heel length were significantly smaller in the maternal cocaine-use subset of this case-control study. Partial ankyloglossia, with a prevalence of 4.4 percent in the overall series, was significantly more common in males than in females (6.0% versus 2.3%), while race (black or white) had no influence on trait frequency. Controlling for race and sex, ankyloglossia was 3.5 times more likely to occur in the drug-use series, perhaps as a function of diminished mitotic rates.