Effect of Cocaine Use on the Fetus

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
THE effect of cocaine use by pregnant women on their fetuses and then newborn infants is a topic of major public health importance. Cocaine has profound effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems of adults and can cause major alterations in fetal brain structure and subsequently in neurologic, cognitive, and behavioral functions. From 10 to 45 percent of women cared for at urban teaching hospitals take cocaine during their pregnancies, considerably more than did so 10 to 15 years ago.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The problem of fetal exposure to cocaine is not confined to urban hospital populations; in a recent study 6 . . .