Factors related to perinatal substance abuse in a California county

The study reported here originates from a county in California between Los Angeles and San Francisco. 658 mothers were tested over a 1-mo. period in June 1991 to ascertain the prevalence of drug misuse among pregnant women. 11% of the mothers tested positive for some type of substance. Of those substances found in the urine of the mothers who tested positive, the most prevalent were barbiturates, marijuana, methamphetamines, and amphetamines. When the multivariate analysis of logistic regression was performed with test results as the dependent variable, history of drug use was the most important factor related to mothers testing positive for drugs.