Cocaine use during pregnancy: Maternal depressive symptoms and infant neurobehavior over the first month

Abstract

Research on the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure has produced an inconsistent pattern of results. The goals of this project were (a) to improve upon the methodology of previous research by matching subjects one-to-one on important confounding maternal and infant variables, (b) to investigate a population of rural women not enrolled in an intensive prenatal intervention program, (c) to assess the impact of cocaine use on maternal depressive symptoms both immediately and 1-month postpartum, and (d) to provide longitudinal data regarding the effect of cocaine exposure and maternal affect on neurobehavioral development of neonates by assessing the infants in the hospital and at 1 month of age. Cocaine-using mothers had significantly fewer prenatal visits and reported more depressive symptoms following delivery thon did control mothers. Cocaine-exposed infants had significantly lower birthweights and shorter gestations. There were no significant differences in neonatal performance on the Brazelton scale at birth or 1 month of age. These findings demonstrate that not all cocaine-exposed infants exhibit neurobehavioral deficits in the neonatal period. Longitudinal research is needed to determine if problems will manifest themselves at later ages when greater developmental demands are placed upon these children.