Incidence and description of structural brain abnormalities in newborns exposed to cocaine

This study was undertaken to determine whether an increased incidence of structural brain abnormalities could be demonstrated in newborns exposed to cocaine.

This study was part of a prospective, longitudinal study of 154 cocaine users matched to 154 control subjects on prenatal risk level, race, parity, and socioeconomic status. Subjects were enrolled prenatally from a rural public health department population or at delivery. Drug exposure was determined by means of repeated, detailed histories and urine screening for drug metabolites. Ultrasonographic examinations were performed within 4 days of birth by experienced technologists and were read by one experienced radiologist, each blinded to drug use history.

Cranial ultrasonography results were available for 266 infants (134 cocaine-exposed; 132 control). Only 27 infants had ultrasonography results that were not considered normal, and there were no significant differences between groups (17 cocaine-exposed vs 10 control; p = 0.119). Identified abnormalities included choroid plexus cysts, subependymal cysts, mildly dilated ventricles, and a cyst of the third ventricle.

The incidence of abnormal cranial ultrasonography results in our cocaine-exposed group was lower than that previously reported in the literature and not significantly different from the control group. In addition, the identified lesions were less severe than previously reported, despite a wide range of cocaine use in our sample, including heavy use.