1/2. Alcohol exposure in utero and functional deficits in children during the first four years of life.The behavioural effects of varying amounts of alcohol exposure in utero were studied using a longitudinal prospective design. An unselected sample of 1529 pregnant women was interviewed in the fifth month of pregnancy regarding beverage consumption, diet, drug use, and socioeconomic background; a cohort of approximately 500 infants was selected at delivery for follow-up. Lengthy individual behavioural and anthropometric examinations were made of the children between birth and four years of age. Alcohol-related behavioural effects are still statistically significant at four years, as they were at birth and eight months, even after adjustment for variables such as maternal smoking, drug use and diet, education, birth order and family stress. Habituation, sucking pressure and latency to suck are some of the behaviours most affected on days 1 and 2, while reaction time, attention and response latency are most affected at four years. Thus alcohol exposure in utero appears to affect the speed and accuracy of information-processing in the offspring. The findings support a dose-response rather than a threshold effect on most of these behavioural outcomes. However, increased risk of a clinically suspect or abnormal child occurs only at the heavier drinking levels. Examination of the cohort of 500 children at seven years of age is under way.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = behaviour (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/2. A psychiatric population of prenatally cocaine-exposed children.The backgrounds and behaviour of 40 prenatally cocaine exposed children referred to the child psychiatry program of an inner-city teaching hospital are explored. The population described is unique to the literature in these ways: (1) Most of the children were not detected as cocaine-exposed at birth, and were disclosed as cocaine-exposed by historical account. (2) Most of the children had lived within drug-dominated home environments for varying lengths of time. Findings indicated that the children receiving intervention early in life, whether detected as cocaine-exposed at birth or by historical account, fared much better socially and emotionally as measured by rate of abuse and severity of psychiatric symptoms. It is concluded that instances of prenatal cocaine exposure should be ascertained at the earliest possible point to intervene in potentially deleterious environmental outcome and associated psychiatric morbidity. Four illustrative cases are presented.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.2keywords = behaviour (Clic here for more details about this article) |