Effects of Prenatal Cocaine/Crack and Other Drug Exposure on Electroencephalographic Sleep Studies at Birth and One Year

Abstract

These results indicate that the neurotoxic effects of prenatal cocaine/crack use can be detected with quantitative EEG measures.

The effects of prenatal cocaine use on infant development

“…Our findings of changes in neurobehavioral and neurophysiological function at birth and temperament at the 1-year assessment are consistent with the hypothesis that PCE affects arousal, attention, mood, and state regulation through changes in neurotransmitter systems [46,47,57,77]. This hypothesis has also been supported in animal studies [1,8,15,30,63,67,85,86,92,94].…”

“…In addition to the association between PCE and temperament that was identified in this study, we have previously reported that first trimester cocaine use was a significant predictor of reduced gestational age [73] and neurobehavioral and neurophysiological changes at birth [72,77]. Brain development during pregnancy is characterized by a complex interaction of genetic, neurochemical, and environmental factors [29].…”

“…At birth, infants who were exposed to cocaine prenatally were smaller and had reduced gestational age compared to those who were not exposed [73]. The exposed infants also had poorer autonomic stability, state regulation, and motor maturity on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS) at birth [72], and less mature brain development on EEG-sleep studies at both birth and 1 year of age [77]. These effects were associated both with cocaine use during early pregnancy and with continued use throughout pregnancy.…”

Obesity Prevention in Children from Birth to Age 5

“…Because newborns have small stomachs, they sleep for 2-4 hours and then awaken for feedings every 2-4 hours. 88 Newborns sleep 17-20 hours out of 24. At 1 month, infants need 16 hours of sleep per day and have a morning, afternoon, and evening nap in addition to night time sleep.…”

Sleep Architecture in Infants of Substance-Abusing Mothers

“…Spontaneous abortion, decreased birth weight, birth length, and head circumference also have been associated with in-utero cocaine exposure (Chiriboga, Brust, Bateman, & Hauser, 1999;Coles, Platzman, Smith, James, & Falek, 1992). Abnormal EEGs, brainstem transmission times, cries and problems with autonomic stability have been reported in the neonate (Corwin, Lester, Sepkoski, McLaughlin, Kayne, & Golub, 1992;Doberczak et al, 1998;Scher, Richardson, & Day, 2000). Neurobehavioral processes such as habituation, attention, regulation of state, learning, language, play, and motor/tone also have been reported as negatively effected Sleep Architecture 4 by in-utero cocaine exposure.…”