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

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.