Disabilities Linked to Fetal Drug Exposure

Toddlers who were exposed to cocaine in the womb are shorter, have smaller heads and are more likely to have learning handicaps than children who have not been exposed, according to a study on drugs and pregnancy released last week to the National Assn. for Perinatal Addiction Research and Education. “This has a lot of implications for long-term development” since head circumference is an indication of brain growth, said Dr. Ira Chasnoff, the director of the Chicago-based study of 277 children, including 228 exposed to drugs.

The problems of the children included a lack of concentration and inability to accomplish tasks easily performed by other children, the study concluded.

“We foresee that many of these children will end up in special education, or classes for the learning disabled,” Chasnoff said. Two-thirds of the mothers used other drugs in addition to cocaine, he said. The association estimates that 375,000 babies are born each year in the United States to mothers who used drugs during pregnancy.

A Boston University study earlier this year found similar results on stature and head size, Chasnoff said.