Cocaine abuse in pregnancy: its evaluation through hair analysis of pathological new-borns

Cocaine abuse in pregnancy has been evaluated through toxicological analysis of hair from 123 pathological new-borns admitted in an intensive care division. The new-borns were affected with malformations, low gestational age, low birth weight, respiratory distress. A control group of 39 healthy new-borns was also analysed. Hair samples (about 50 mg) were enzymatically digested and directly analysed by RIA. Samples positive to the preliminary screening were extracted by SPE columns and injected in GC/MS. Results obtained showed 3 positive samples (2.4%). All cocaine babies had low gestational age, low birth weight, two of them showed heart malformation, one kidney malformation and one genital malformation. None of the control new-born resulted positive for cocaine. These results show a worrying trend of cocaine diffusion in the Italian population.