Neurobehavioral functioning in children exposed to narcotics in Utero

Cognitive function of youths born to mothers with opioid and poly-substance abuse problems during pregnancy

“…The significant effect sizes were in the range of approximately 0.5 to 0.9 standard deviations. The combination of cognitive functions within the normal range but significantly worse than a non-exposed group is in accordance with previous studies of young children with prenatal opioid or poly-drug exposure (Bauman & Levine, 1986;Bunikowski et al, 1998;Hans & Jeremy, 2001;Hunt et al, 2008;Johnson et al, 1984;Logan et al, 2011;van Baar & de Graaff, 1994;Wilson, 1989;Wilson et al, 1979) and youths with such prenatal exposure (Davis & Templer, 1988;Ornoy et al, 2010).…”

“…As found in previous studies (Bernstein et al, 1984;Bunikowski et al, 1998;Davis & Templer, 1988;Hans, 1989;Hans & Jeremy, 2001;Logan et al, 2011;Wahlsten & Sarman, 2013), the drug-exposed group had significantly worse fine motor functioning than the non-exposed group. However, the results were within the normal range, and the differences between the groups were not larger than the differences in general cognitive abilities.…”

“…The few studies of young children indicate the likelihood of problems within fields related to executive control and attention (Hans, 1996;Hickey, Suess, Newlin, Spurgeon, & Porges, 1995;Melinder, Konijnenberg, & Sarfi, 2013;Ornoy, Segal, Bar-Hamburger, & Greenbaum, 2001;Slinning, 2004;Wahlsten & Sarman, 2013) and behavior regulation (de Cubas & Field, 1993;Hans, 1996;Sowder & Burt, 1980). Fine motor abilities, which are often related to executive control (Rigoli, Piek, Kane, & Oosterlaan, 2012), have also been found to be worse among young children born to mothers with opioid and poly-drug use during pregnancy than among other children (Bunikowski et al, 1998;Davis & Templer, 1988;Hans & Jeremy, 2001;Logan et al, 2011). Some studies find that motor abilities are the most affected functional area (Bernstein, Jeremy, Hans, & Marcus, 1984;Hans, 1989;Wahlsten & Sarman, 2013), whereas other studies have not found significant group differences in motor abilities (van Baar, 1990).…”

“…This issue is of concern because the few existing longitudinal studies indicate that drug-exposed children do not catch up with comparable children as they age (Crea, Barth, Guo, & Brooks, 2008;Hans & Jeremy, 2001;Messinger et al, 2004;Moe & Slinning, 2001;Ornoy et al, 2010;Strauss, Starr, Ostrea, Chavez, & Stryker, 1976;van Baar & de Graaff, 1994). The few studies of older children and youths indicate worse cognitive scores and more attentional problems for these youths than for comparable control groups (Davis & Templer, 1988;Ornoy et al, 2010). However, these studies are crosssectional and include younger children (Davis & Templer, 1988), do not report on the youths' cognitive functioning (Crea et al, 2008), or do not take into account perinatal factors (Ornoy et al, 2010).…”

“…The few studies of older children and youths indicate worse cognitive scores and more attentional problems for these youths than for comparable control groups (Davis & Templer, 1988;Ornoy et al, 2010). However, these studies are crosssectional and include younger children (Davis & Templer, 1988), do not report on the youths' cognitive functioning (Crea et al, 2008), or do not take into account perinatal factors (Ornoy et al, 2010).…”