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Verbal and nonverbal memory in school-aged children born to opioid-dependent mothers

C Konijnenberg1, A Melinder2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway; Cognitive Developmental Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Early Human Development
|June 30, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Children exposed to methadone or buprenorphine during pregnancy showed lower memory function. Maternal smoking during pregnancy may partially explain these effects, highlighting the need for integrated smoking cessation programs in opioid maintenance therapy.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Long-term developmental effects of prenatal methadone and buprenorphine exposure remain largely unknown.
  • Opioid maintenance therapy (OMT) is used to treat opioid use disorder during pregnancy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate memory function in school-aged children exposed prenatally to methadone or buprenorphine.
  • To examine the association between prenatal opioid exposure and cognitive outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective longitudinal cohort study.
  • Assessed verbal and non-verbal memory in 41 children (aged 9-11 years) using the Test of Memory and Learning - Second edition (TOMAL-2).
  • Compared children with and without prenatal OMT exposure, controlling for IQ and maternal smoking.

Main Results:

  • Children with prenatal methadone or buprenorphine exposure scored lower on verbal and non-verbal memory tasks (p < .05).
  • Group differences persisted for three of four memory subtests after controlling for general IQ.
  • Maternal tobacco use during pregnancy explained a significant portion of the variance in memory performance (R² change = 0.07, p = .04).

Conclusions:

  • Prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine is associated with significantly lower memory performance in school-aged children.
  • Maternal smoking during pregnancy may partially mediate this association.
  • Integrated smoking cessation programs are recommended for pregnant women in OMT programs.
Abstract

Keywords:
BuprenorphineCognitive developmentMemoryMethadoneOpioid maintenance therapyPrenatal opioid exposure

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