Original ArticlesEstimates of illicit drug use during pregnancy by maternal interview, hair analysis, and meconium analysis*,**
Section snippets
Methods
All women who initially presented for prenatal care at the Hutzel Hospital antenatal high risk clinic were routinely interviewed regarding drug and alcohol use. From this population, 75 pregnant women were enrolled in the study based on their use (or non-use) of cocaine, opiate, and cannabinoid. By power analysis (see below), a total of 40 subjects were required for the study, but an additional 35 subjects were also recruited to compensate for possible dropouts. Informed consent was obtained at
Results
A total of 75 subjects were initially enrolled in the study. Nine were withdrawn because of non-return to the clinic (n = 1) or voluntary withdrawal from the study (n = 8). Of the remaining 66 subjects, 6 had voluntary or spontaneous abortions and 2 were further excluded: 1 infant had inappropriate collection and storage of meconium and 1 infant was missed at delivery. A total of 58 mothers and 59 infants (one set of twins in the control group) were included in the study. A mean of 2.8 ± 0.4
Discussion
We compared the sensitivity, specificity, and limitations of maternal interview, hair analysis, and meconium analysis for the detection of antenatal exposure to cocaine, opiate, and cannabinoid. Maternal interview is probably most prone to error because of potential denial by the subject of any drug use. Thus to increase the accuracy of the maternal interview, the study was started as early in gestation as possible to allow for repeated interviews (mean = 7.4 interviews per subject), the
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Supported in part by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant 1 RO1 DA06821-01A1.
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Reprint requests: Enrique M. Ostrea, Jr, MD, The Department of Pediatrics, Hutzel Hospital, 4707 St Antoine Blvd, Detroit, MI 48201.