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Cocaine: its effects on maternal and child health
S L Young1, H J Vosper, S A Phillips
1Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacy Administration, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, Pennsylvania.
Insights
Cocaine use during pregnancy poses significant risks to newborns, including developmental delays and birth defects. Infants and children exposed to cocaine face serious health issues and developmental challenges.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Neonatal Medicine
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Cocaine abuse is a major public health concern in America.
- Pregnancy use of cocaine is linked to adverse outcomes like abruptio placentae, stillbirth, and preterm labor.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline the multifaceted health risks associated with prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure in infants and children.
Main Methods:
- This abstract summarizes existing knowledge on the effects of cocaine exposure.
- It reviews complications in neonates and developmental outcomes in children up to one year of age.
- It also addresses risks to infants from environmental exposure and adolescents.
Main Results:
- Neonatal complications include congenital malformations, growth restriction, seizures, cerebral injury, auditory deficits, SIDS, cardiac arrhythmias, necrotizing enterocolitis, and behavioral changes.
- Developmental delays are observed in the first year of life.
- Infants and children are also at risk from accidental/intentional intoxication via smoke or breast milk, and adolescents face seizures and psychosocial dysfunction.
Conclusions:
- Cocaine exposure during pregnancy and childhood leads to a wide spectrum of severe health and developmental problems.
- Ongoing vigilance and intervention are crucial for affected infants, children, and adolescents.
Abstract:
Cocaine abuse has become one of America's leading public health problems. Its use throughout pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of abruptio placentae, stillbirth, and preterm labor. Cocaine-associated neonatal complications include congenital malformations, decreased fetal growth, seizures, cerebral infarction and hemorrhage, auditory system deficits, sudden infant death syndrome, cardiac arrhythmias, necrotizing enterocolitis, and behavioral changes. Children followed throughout the first year of life continue to show developmental delay. Infants and children growing up in cocaine-abusing families are at risk for drug-related injuries. Accidental and intentional intoxication has occurred in infants and children from the smoke of freebase cocaine. The drug has also caused intoxication in breast-feeding infants. Adolescents experimenting with cocaine are at risk, with an apparently high frequency of seizures and loss of consciousness, as well as behavioral changes and psychosocial dysfunction.