Four-year health trajectories of children prenatally exposed to cocaine and/or cannabis. A retrospective, cohort study in La Pampa, Argentina.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION\nCocaine and/or cannabis use during pregnancy is a growing problem of relevance for global public health. Exposed children may have a wide range of perinatal complications, but there is little knowledge on their course.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nTo describe and compare the health trajectories of children prenatally exposed and unexposed to cocaine and/or cannabis over 4 years.\n\n\nMETHODS\nRetrospective, cohort study with a double control group. Exposed children were detected through a urine test by the Department of Neonatology of a public hospital between 2009 and 2013.\n\n\nRESULTS\nA total of 29 exposed children and 58 unexposed children were assessed. The most common drugs detected in the exposed group were cocaine and cannabis. Most mothers were poly-drug users. The exposed group showed significant differences in relation to a lower frequency of health checkups (p < 0.0001) and a higher number of visits to the emergency department (p = 0.0295) and hospitalizations (p = 0.007), mainly due to respiratory conditions. In addition, they had a greater rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, changes of home, and legal interventions. In this group, 1 child and 2 parents had a violent death. No deaths were reported in the unexposed group.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nConclusions: Children prenatally exposed to cocaine and/or cannabis had a lower number of health checkups and a higher number of visits to the emergency department and hospitalizations. Besides, they showed a greater rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, changes of home, legal interventions, and violent deaths in the direct family group.