MATERNAL DRUG-USE DURING PREGNANCY - ARE PRETERM AND FULL-TERM INFANTS AFFECTED DIFFERENTLY

This study examined whether preterm infants are more vulnerable to the effects of prenatal drug exposure than are full-term infants. The sam ple of 235 low-income African American mothers and their infants inclu ded 119 cocaine-polydrug users, 19 alcohol-only users, and 97 nonusers ; 148 infants were full term and 87 were preterm. Direct effects of ex posure on birth weight, birth length, ponderal index, and irritability were moderated by length of gestation: Fetal growth deficits were mor e extreme in later-born infants, whereas increases in irritability wer e more extreme in earlier born infants. Effects of exposure on cardior espiratory reactivity to a neonatal exam were not moderated by length of gestation. In general, effects of exposure occurred for both cocain e-polydrug and alcohol-only users and so could not be unambiguously at tributed to either of these drugs alone.