Brief report: frequency of maternal cocaine use during pregnancy and infant neurobehavioral outcome

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of frequency of prenatal maternal cocaine use on infant neurobehavioral outcome beyond the immediate postpartum period, controlling for other substance use.

Methods: At 2 weeks postpartum, the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS) was administered to infants (N = 55) and their mothers were asked about their prenatal drug use. Mother/infant dyads were placed in one of two groups based on the number of days of reported cocaine use during pregnancy: high frequency (n = 23, > 75th percentile reported days of use) or low frequency (n = 32, < 75th percentile).

Results: Infants in the high frequency cocaine group had worse BNBAS excitability scores than infants in the low frequency cocaine group, when other substance use was controlled statistically.

Conclusions: High frequency of maternal cocaine use during pregnancy is associated with poorer infant neurobehavioral outcome beyond the early postpartum period, when other substance use is controlled.