Crack Baby Scare During 1980s Was Overstated, Say Researchers
A new report published on Monday states that effects on newborns from mothers who smoked crack during the 1980s "crack baby" scare may have been overstated.
The review of more than two dozen studies was led by University of Maryland pediatrics researcher Maureen Black and was released online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers examined 27 studies involving more than 5,000 11- to 17-year-olds whose mothers had used cocaine while pregnant. All of the studies used in the review included low-income, minority families living in urban environments.
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Previous studies had found a connection between a pregnant woman's cocaine use and their children's cognitive and physical development.
Such shortcomings included attention problems, anxiety and below average school performance, but presently researchers contend that those results were related more to other factors such as family problems, violence and poverty.
The dramatic increase in crack cocaine use during the 1980s was a leading factor to the "crack baby" scare and resulted from babies being born to crack users that showed various symptoms, including anxiety and physical deficiencies such as smaller cranium size.
However, recent research into the accuracy of these claims has mostly discounted any connection between the two. Various studies have stated that "crack babies" were often born prematurely, which could account for many of their documented symptoms with several studies that tracked children beyond infancy failing to find any severe outcomes.
"The field of prenatal cocaine exposure has advanced significantly since the misleading `crack baby' scare of the 1980s," the review authors said.
The government's National Institute on Drug Abuse states that it is difficult to determine how drug use during pregnancy affects children's development because of numerous other factors including prenatal care, mothers' health and family environment.
The March of Dimes estimates that about 4 percent of pregnant women use illicit drugs like cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines. The organization also adds pregnant women who use illicit drugs are also more likely to use alcohol and tobacco, which also pose health risks to the unborn.
