LATE NEUROLOGICAL, COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL SEQUELAE OF PRENATAL EXPOSURE TO COUMARINS - A PILOT-STUDY

Neurological, cognitive and behavioural development were assessed in a group of 21, 8- to 10-year old children whose mothers took coumarins during pregnancy. Findings were compared with those in a group of 17 c ontrol children. The study was performed to test whether it is feasibl e to carry out a reliable retrospective study of late effects of prena tal exposure to coumarins. This turned out to be the case. In this sma ll pilot study, no statistical significant differences were found betw een the study and control group, nevertheless a few findings were rema rkable. One child showed severe neurological abnormalities, which may be due to prenatal exposure to oral anticoagulants. The children with the lowest scores on the neurological assessment and the lowest IQ-sco res, were found in the exposed group. Obviously, the number of childre n in this study is too small to conclude if there has been definite ef fects from coumarin, but these results indicate that a large follow-up study is required. In the present paper, we have shown that such a st udy is feasible.