Longitudinal cognitive development of children born to mothers with opioid and polysubstance use.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Previous studies indicate an increased risk for neuropsychological difficulties in young children prenatally exposed to opioids and polysubstances, but longitudinal information is scarce. The present longitudinal study investigated whether these waned, persisted, or increased over time.

Methods

The cognitive functioning of 72 children with prenatal opioid and polysubstance exposure and 58 children without any established prenatal risk was assessed at 1, 2, 3, 4½, and 8½ y.

Results

The exposed boys had significantly and stably lower levels of cognitive functioning than the control group, whereas there were increasing differences over time for the girls. The exposed group had significantly lower IQ scores than the control group on Wechsler Intelligence Scale

SUBMITTER: Nygaard E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4539602 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature