The effect of diazepam and promethazine treatment during pregnancy on the somatic development of human offspring

The postnatal longitudinal somatic, neurological, mental, and behavioral de velopments were studied in children at birth, 8, 15, and 24 months of life, whose mothers were treated during pregnancy with clinical doses of diazepa m (n = 126) and promethazine (n = 127) and whose mothers were unexposed. Th e latter group was differentiated in negative (n = 256) and positive (n = 1 02) control children. The positive control group involved mothers who had p regnancy complications similar to those of mothers in the drug groups but w ho were not treated with CNS-active drugs during pregnancy. It is very diff icult to recruit persons for the study and control groups who are appropria te for comparative evaluation. Only firstborns and the so-called "normal" n ewborn infants were studied; children with low birth weight, major abnormal ities, severe neonatal diseases, etc., were excluded. In this article the s tudy design, study materials, and somatic (weight, length, head circumferen ce) development are described. At birth, children had a lower weight in the diazepam group, but it was not noted at the eighth month of postnatal life . (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.