RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
  Anorexia Nervosa
  Anxiety
  Bulimia
  CFS
  Child Psychiatry
  Depression
  Forensic Psychiatry
  Learning-Disabilities
  Mood Disorders
  Neuropsychiatry
  Peri-Natal Psychiatry
  Personality Disorders
  Psychology
  Psychoses
  Psychotherapy
  Sleep Disorders
  Substance Abuse
   Alcohol
   Amphetamine
   Cannabis
   Cocaine
   Opiates
   Smoking
  Suicide
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Cocaine Channel

subscribe to Cocaine newsletter
Latest Research : Psychiatry : Substance Abuse : Cocaine

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Prenatal cocaine exposure not linked to bad behavior in kids

May 7, 2006 - 6:48:00 PM , Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
"These dire predictions were made about this group of kids. This study shows there really aren't the huge problems that we might expect."

 
[RxPG] Toddlers exposed to cocaine before birth exhibit no more behavioral problems than other children their age, despite early predictions that "crack babies" would grow up to be delinquents, University of Florida researchers say.

Studying 3-year-olds exposed to crack and powder cocaine in the womb and a similar group of children who were not, UF researchers found that disruptive behaviors in children actually seem to be linked more closely to maternal depression than prenatal cocaine exposure.

"In all of the various outcomes we have looked at, people have expected very bad things," said Tamara D. Warner, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate in the UF College of Medicine and lead author of the study. "These dire predictions were made about this group of kids. This study shows there really aren't the huge problems that we might expect."

The researchers found that mothers, on average, reported a high number of symptoms of depression, regardless of whether they used cocaine during pregnancy, according to findings published this month in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Biological mothers also tended to report more behavioral problems than nonmaternal caregivers and foster parents, who were caring for about half the cocaine-exposed children by the time they reached 3.

"One might have expected that caregivers who took on children with prenatal cocaine exposure would've expected (more problems) and reported a higher number of problems," Warner said. "But that wasn't the case."

The researchers studied 256 children, about half of whom were exposed to cocaine before birth. Most of their mothers were poor and black and lived in rural North Central Florida.

Poverty could explain why many of these mothers showed signs of depression, and in turn, depression could explain why mothers of cocaine-exposed and non-exposed children tended to report more behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity and impulsive behaviors, Warner said.

About 5 percent to 10 percent of children exhibit disruptive behavioral problems. But the mothers UF researchers studied reported that as many as 46 percent of their children demonstrated certain disruptive problems, Warner said.

Mothers could be showing signs of depression because of their children's misbehaving ways, but researchers can't pinpoint whether maternal depression causes misbehavior or if disruptive behavior leads to depression.

"If you're poor and you need mental health services, you're in bad shape," Warner said. "Both sets of moms were reporting a large number of depressive symptoms and have been from the beginning. And that is probably more likely to result in emotional behavior problems for the children than prenatal cocaine exposure."

Deborah Frank, Ph.D., a professor of pediatrics at Boston University's Boston Medical Center, also noted that UF is the only institution studying rural mothers, important because urban mothers face different obstacles, such as violence, which could potentially affect childhood behavior and rates of maternal depression

"The very high rates of clinically important depression in all the (maternal) caregivers are striking," said Frank, who also studies prenatal cocaine exposure. "We're finding that the most devastating effects are from the postnatal environment, not the prenatal environment.

"None of this research should be taken as, 'It's OK to use crack when you're pregnant," Frank added. "It's not something women do for fun. It's something women do out of despair."

Tackling that despair is still a problem that needs to improve, said Marylou Behnke, M.D., a UF neonatology professor and co-author of the study. Access to treatment programs and mental health services is still poor for mothers, she said.

Behnke and Fonda Davis Eyler, Ph.D., began studying children exposed to cocaine prenatally in 1991. Their research, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse, has debunked beliefs that cocaine-exposed children would be malformed and not have the same cognitive abilities as other children. Last year the researchers reported that cocaine-exposed children exhibit only subtle problem-solving differences in school. The children they studied, including the 3-year-olds in the current study, are in their early teens now.

"There were really dire things that are being predicted," Behnke said. "It's encouraging that we're not seeing those kind of behavioral problems."



Publication: Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
On the web: www.ufl.edu 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Cocaine News
Scientists design simple dipstick test for cocaine, other drugs
Biochemical signature of cocaine craving revealed
Eliminating the rewarding effect of cocaine by genetic alterations
Prenatal cocaine exposure not linked to bad behavior in kids
Strength of cocaine cravings linked to brain response
Cocaine use linked to brain hemmorhage in young adults
Transcriptional activation is a key molecular mechanism in cocaine addiction
Disrupting reconsolidation of the cocaine-related memory

Subscribe to Cocaine Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)