Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Prenatal Cocaine Exposure and Motor Performance at 4 Months
Rosemarie Bigsby1, Linda L LaGasse2, Barry Lester3
1Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and The Brown Center for the Study of Children At Risk, Women and Infants' Hospital, 101 Dudley Street, Providence, RI 02748.
Objective:
The relation between prenatal cocaine exposure and quality of movement was studied at 4 mo using the Posture and Fine Motor Assessment of Infants (PFMAI-I).
Method:
Posture and fine motor scores of 4-month-old infants exposed to cocaine in utero (n = 370) were compared with an unexposed group (n = 533) within the context of gestational age, medical and demographic characteristics, and level of prenatal substance exposure using the PFMAI-I.
Results:
Infants prenatally exposed to cocaine had significantly lower posture scores than infants in the unexposed group. There was no main effect of cocaine exposure on fine motor scores; however, there were independent effects of gestational age at birth on both posture and fine motor scores at 4-mo corrected age.
Conclusion:
These findings demonstrate independent contributions of prenatal cocaine exposure and prematurity to risk of motor delay and support the validity of the PFMAI-I as a measure of motor competence in early infancy.
