Loading...
The number of pregnant women seeking treatment for methamphetamine use tripled between 1994 and 2006, and the proportion of users among women in lower socioeconomic strata is even greater. To determine risks from methamphetamine and tobacco exposure to developing infants, 36 newborns exposed prenatally to methamphetamine and tobacco, 32 exposed to tobacco alone, and 71 unexposed infants underwent thorough examinations and one to three sleeping diffusion tensor imaging studies for fractional anisotropy (FA), which identify markers of REM sleep disturbance. The mothers were evaluated for substance use and psychopathology.
Prenatal exposure to tobacco or methamphetamine was associated with abnormalities in muscle tone and total neurological sco…