What is it about?
Children born to mothers receiving opioid maintenance treatment are at a higher risk of experiencing neurodevelopmental difficulties, such as delayed language development, as well as challenges with attention and behavior, when compared to their peers of the same age. These issues arise from multiple fetal and environmental factors.
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Why is it important?
Clinicians working in maternity care and addiction clinics should recognize the needs of pregnant women with substance use disorders and provide appropriate care that focuses on the well-being of the mothers and aims to reduce the known adverse effects on their fetuses, such as mental problems and concomitant substance use.
Perspectives
This has been a valuable opportunity to study this unique group of four-year-old children with in-utero exposure to maternal opioid maintenance treatment and compare their developmental and health challenges to those of typical Finnish children of the same age.
Minna Kanervo
University of Helsinki
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Neurodevelopmental challenges at age four following fetal exposure to maternal opioid maintenance treatment, Pediatric Research, March 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s41390-025-04029-6.
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