Abstract
Twenty-five women who used crack during pregnancy were compared to a cohort group of non crack using women matched for age, socioeconomic status, parity, presence or absence of prenatal care and use of tobacco and alcohol. Crack exposed infants were eight times more likely to weigh less than 2.5 kg than infants of cohort mothers. There was a higher frequency of head circumference less than the tenth percentile for gestational age (p<0.025) in the study group infants, and mean gestational age in this group (37.5±3.8 weeks) was significantly lower than in the cohort infants (39.3±2.1 weeks; p=0.027). There was a higher frequency of premature rupture of membranes (p=0.046) in the crack than in the cohort group. Fifty-five percent of infants exposed to crack in-utero had abnormal neuromuscular symptoms, usually of short duration.
These studies suggest that use of crack has a deleterious effect on the outcome of pregnancy, and that careful medical follow-up of these infants is necessary.
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Cherukuri, R., Minkoff, H., Parekh, A. et al. ALKALOIDAL COCAINE (“CRACK”) IN PREGNANCY: A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 233 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00401
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00401