Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure May Compromise Neurocognitive Development During Middle Childhood

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that heavier intrauterine cocaine exposure (IUCE) is associated with mild compromise on selective areas of neurocognitive development during middle childhood. The BUSM study appears in the May issue of Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

BUSM researchers evaluated whether the level of IUCE or the interaction between IUCE and contextual variables was related during middle childhood to executive functioning as measured by two neuropsychological assessments. The Stroop Color-Word Test measures verbal inhibitory control while the Rey Osterrieth Organizational score evaluates skills such as planning, organization and perception.

BUSM researchers classified subjects as either unexposed, lighter, or heavier IUCE by positive maternal reports and/or biological assay. Examiners who did not know the children’s history or group status assessed 143 children at 9 and 11 years of age (74 with IUCE and 69 demographically similar children without IUCE). After controlling for contextual variables including intrauterine exposures to other licit and illicit substances, level of IUCE was not significantly associated with either assessment scores. However, the heavier cocaine-exposed group of children had significantly lower Stroop scores compared to the combined lighter/unexposed group.

According to lead author Ruth Rose-Jacobs, Sc.D., assistant professor and research scientist at BUSM, “These research findings were present even in the absence of major cognitive differences in the same cohort as previously measured by standardized instruments in late infancy and early childhood. The emergence of these subtle IUCE effects suggests the possibility of neurocognitive “sleeper effects” of IUCE, which may become more apparent with the greater functional and cognitive demands of late middle childhood and preadolescence.”

In addition, researchers stated that further longitudinal assessment would help to clarify whether the IUCE group differences observed in this study are due to immaturity, delays in development, or potentially persistent deficits.

This study was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources. The National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources had no role in the design and conduct of the study, the collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, or the preparation, review and approval of the manuscript.

source: MediLexicon

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Alcohol craving reduced by drugs

Twin research projects have offered both present and future hope to people suffering from alcohol addiction. US researchers say that epilepsy drug topiramate boosts general health as well as cutting the craving for drink. A UK specialist said the potential side-effects of topiramate still merited caution. A separate project showed that a single injection of….

Underage Drinking Debate

Underage drinking is one of the problematic issues constantly associated with adolescence. Eshe Nelson, 17, speaks to her peers and gives their perspective on the debate as well as her own. Everyone knows that drinking alcohol under 18 is illegal, and just as many of us know that it’s a law liberally broken. Because of….

Fetal alcohol exposure affects teenage drinking behavior

According to scientists, there is a link between exposure to alcohol in the womb and an attraction to its smell during teenage life. The researchers state that a fetus can recall and be drawn to odor stimuli from what its mother ingests during pregnancy. A new study from the State University of New York found….

Medicines derived from cannabis: A review of adverse events

Researchers at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), McGill University and the University of British Columbia (UBC) determined that medical use of cannabinoids do not cause an increase in serious adverse events, but are associated with an increase in some non-serious adverse events. Several drugs containing compounds derived from the cannabis plant, or cannibinoids, are….

Doctors sound alert over binge drinking from age eight

Children as young as eight are being brought into hospitals unconscious after getting drunk on cheap cider, spirits and alcopops such is the ease of access to cut-price alcohol, according to doctors. The problems of binge-drinking are now so serious that small hospitals that used to treat one intoxicated child a month are now receiving….