Cocaine has subtler effects on baby’s than once thought
Filed under: Baby public health — Alan @ 4:17 am
A new study conducted by scientists from the University of Maryland School of Medicine discovered that children in the womb that are exposed to cocaine will face negative consequences to their health, but not so much the cognitive and physical areas that health professionals once believed.
Instead, after a careful review of several major studies that looked at children that were exposed to cocaine in the womb but are now school aged, the impact was found in more subtle areas of behaviour, such as the ability to self-regulate their own behaviour and sustained attention.
When a woman uses cocaine during pregnancy the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the brain is interrupted which places the baby at risk for low birth weight, premature birth, and other health problems.
The research surprisingly showed however that there is not much of a connection between cocaine use during pregnancy and IQ, growth, language functioning, and academic achievement.
Although many of the children were found to be low in these areas, the research suggested that these problems were the by-product of a bad home environment that is often found around those that use cocaine.
The results also showed that the problems that cocaine is likely connected to-self regulated behaviour and sustained attention- was likely to become worse as the children mature into adults.
Senior author of the study Maureen M. Black and professor at the UMS of Medicine stated that the information gleamed from the research showed that simply because a child is exposed to cocaine in the womb does not mean that they are necessarily going to have hardships and trouble for the rest of their lives.
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