Prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine: Early childhood developmental outcomes (original) (raw)
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Early Human Development, 2016
To assess the influence of mother-child interaction on children's cognitive development in a group of children prenatally exposed to methadone or buprenorphine. Study design: The study is part of a prospective longitudinal project investigating the development of children born to women in opioid maintenance therapy (OMT). The sample includes 67 children born between 2005 and 2007, 35 of which prenatally exposed to either methadone or buprenorphine and 32 non-exposed comparison children. Results: Both groups scored within the normal range of development. However, the OMT group scored significantly lower on measures of cognitive development and mother-child interaction compared to the comparison group. Cognitive development was found to be affected by both group status, F(1,54) = 5.65, p = 0.02, η 2 = 0.10 and mother-child interaction F(1,54) = 5.26, p = 0.03, η 2 = 0.09. Behavioral inhibition (statue), sensorimotor function (imitating hand positions), and short-term memory (sentences) was influenced by group status while narrative memory and vocabulary were found to be more influenced by mother-child interaction. Conclusions: Different risk factors may influence different cognitive functions in children of women in OMT. Specifically, language-related cognitive skills may be more related to mother-child interaction while performance in higher cognitive functions requiring precise control over sensorimotor responses may be more sensitive to other factors such as prenatal OMT exposure, genetics, and/or prenatal exposure to other substances.
Early Child Development and Care, 2015
It is still under debate whether the reported effects of opioid maintenance therapy (OMT) on child behaviour are a direct effect of prenatal exposure, or whether other factors are involved. This prospective cohort study investigated three models: the teratogenic risk model, the maternal risk model, and a combined risk model in a group of 35 children (M = 52.20 months, SD = 1.69) prenatally exposed to OMT. Results revealed support for the maternal risk model and the combined model, with the combined model predicting child internalising and externalising behaviour problems the best (R 2 = .65, p = .008 and R 2 = .74, p = .003, respectively). Findings suggest that behaviour problems in children of women in OMT may not be a direct exposure effect. This underscores the importance of taking into consideration multiple factors when studying the effects of prenatal OMT exposure on child behaviour.
Fetal neurobehavioral effects of exposure to methadone or buprenorphine
Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 2011
As part of a double-blind study of medication treatment for opioid dependence during pregnancy, 17 opioid-dependent pregnant women maintained on either buprenorphine or methadone underwent fetal monitoring at 24, 28, 32, and 36 weeks gestation. Maternal demographic information and infant outcomes did not significantly differ by medication group. Earlier in gestation (24 and 28 weeks), buprenorphine-exposed fetuses had higher levels of fetal heart rate variability, more accelerations in fetal heart rate and greater coupling between fetal heart rate and fetal movement than the methadone-exposed group (all p's <.05). Later in gestation (32 and 36 weeks), buprenorphine-exposed fetuses displayed less suppression of motor activity and longer duration of movements than the methadone-exposed group (all p's <.05). These results may have implications for the optimal treatment of the opioid-dependent pregnant woman.
Maternal stress and behavioral adaptation in methadone- or buprenorphine-exposed toddlers
Infant Behavior and Development, 2013
The current study examined the relationship between early interaction, parenting stress, maternal psychological distress symptoms, and behavior problems and health-related quality of life among children born to mothers in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) in Norway during the period 2005-2007 (N = 36). This group was compared with a normative sample of mothers without substance abuse problems and their children (N = 36). There were significant group differences (p < .01) in perceived child problems in toddlerhood. In a regression model, mothers' self-reported psychological distress symptoms in terms of depression and anxiety symptoms significantly predicted child behavior problems (p < .01) and health-related quality of life (p < .01) rather than parenting stress. No significant, unique effect of exposure was found after controlling for other factors that could influence developmental outcomes. These findings add to the growing evidence on the importance of maternal psychological well-being for child development, and underscore the need to address opioid-maintained women's personal maladjustment and the constellation of stress experienced by mothers in recovery.
Prenatal buprenorphine exposure and neonatal neurobehavioral functioning
Early human development, 2017
Assessments of effects of prenatal opioid exposure on the neonate have consisted principally of evaluations of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) to determine the need for pharmacotherapy. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the effects of gestational maternal buprenorphine maintenance on newborn neurobehavioral functioning. Maternal substance use history and psychosocial demographics that can contribute to the neurobehavioral functioning of the infant were explored. Infants were assessed using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) to measure their neurologic and behavioral functioning and signs of stress/abstinence on days 3, 14 and 30 of life. Participants were 41 pregnant buprenorphine-maintained women and their infants. Maternal buprenorphine dose at delivery was negatively correlated with infant quality of movement and self-regulation, and positively correlated with the central nervous system parameters of stress/abstinence at day 3 of life. As mat...
Methadone and buprenorphine are widely used for treating people with opioid dependence, including pregnant women. Prenatal exposure to opioids has devastating effects on the development of human fetuses and may induce long-term physical and neurobehavioral changes during postnatal maturation. This study aimed at comparing the behavioral outcomes of young rats prenatally exposed to buprenorphine, methadone, and morphine. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were administered saline, morphine, methadone, and buprenorphine during embryonic days 3–20. The cognitive function, social interaction, anxiety-like behaviors, and locomotor activity of offsprings were examined by novel object recognition test, social interaction test, light–dark transition test, elevated plus-maze, and open-field test between 6 weeks and 10 weeks of age. Prenatal exposure to methadone and buprenorphine did not affect locomotor activity, but significantly impaired novel object recognition and social interaction in both male and female offsprings in the same manner as morphine. Although prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine increased anxiety-like behaviors in the light–dark transition in both male and female offsprings, the effects were less pronounced as compared to that of morphine. Methadone affected elevated plus-maze in both sex, but buprenorphine only affected the female offsprings. These findings suggest that buprenorphine and methadone maintenance therapy for pregnant women, like morphine, produced detrimental effects on cognitive function and social behaviors, whereas the offsprings of such women might have lower a risk of developing anxiety disorders.
Maternal methadone dose during pregnancy and infant clinical outcome
Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 2013
In recent decades there has been an increase in the methadone dosages prescribed for opioid dependent women during pregnancy. Using prospective longitudinal data from a cohort of 32 methadone exposed and 42 non-methadone exposed infants, this study examined the relationship between maternal methadone dose during pregnancy and a range of infant clinical outcomes. Of particular interest was the extent to which any observed associations might reflect the direct causal effects of maternal methadone dose and/or the confounding effects of adverse maternal lifestyle factors correlated with methadone use during pregnancy. Findings revealed the presence of clear linear relationships between the mean methadone dose prescribed for mothers during pregnancy and a range of adverse infant clinical outcomes. With increasing maternal methadone dose there was a corresponding increase in infants' risk of being born preterm, being symmetrically smaller, spending longer periods in hospital and the need for treatment for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. After due allowance for potentially confounding maternal health and lifestyle factors, maternal methadone dose during pregnancy remained a significant predictor of preterm birth, growth, and the duration of infant hospitalization post delivery. These findings suggest a need to examine more closely the potential impacts of recent trends towards the use of higher methadone dose levels during pregnancy.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2012
BACKGROUND-It is suspected that there is a continuum of impairment among prenatally drug-exposed infants, such that opioid and/or poly-drug exposure confers the highest risk for adverse neonatal outcomes than other classes of substances or single substance exposures. Suitable control groups are difficult to identify. This study compared fetal neurobehavioral development and infant outcomes in offspring of three groups of pregnant women in drug treatment. Exposure groups include: Methadone + other illicit substances (MM+Poly) and two groups currently abstinent for poly drug exposures: Methadone only (MM/A) and Non-methadone (NM/A).
Prenatal Methadone Exposure and Neonatal Neurobehavioral Functioning
Pediatric Research
Opioid-exposed infants display a wide and variable range of dysregulated neurobehavioral functioning, but the regulatory difficulties experienced by these infants outside the defined clusters of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) have not been well described, and may have implications for the infant's developmental course. This study describes the neurobehavioral functioning of neonates prenatally exposed to methadone using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) and explores the relationships between maternal factors and infant functioning. The relationship between NNNS measures, NAS severity and need for pharmacotherapy for NAS were also evaluated. Infants who required pharmacological treatment for NAS showed more dysregulated behavior and signs of stress/abstinence as indicated by NNNS scores, but NNNS scores were not significantly correlated with maternal methadone dose. The determination of the range of the methadone exposed infant's neurobehavioral repertoire could guide the optimal treatment of all such infants, particularly those requiring only non-pharmacological care.