Abstract
Background: Animal studies suggest that early intervention in pups exposed heavily to ethanol in utero can mitigate their neurocognitive damage. No human studies on this promising mechanism exists. Methods: Breaking the Cycle is an early intervention program for drug-and alcohol addicted mothers and their young children. We compared BSID-III scores between infants heavily exposed to ethanol and a group exposed only to drugs of abuse, mainly cocaine. Both groups benefited from all aspects of our early intervention program. Results: The two groups did not differ in any aspect of the BSID-III. These data are in contradistinction to the damage seen in heavily ethanol- exposed infants not benefiting from early intervention. Conclusions: This pilot suggests that early intervention may mitigate some of the well described damages caused by heavy in utero alcohol exposure.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | e453-e459 |
Journal | Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 3 |
State | Published - 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |