Prevalence and Magnitude of Perinatal Substance Exposures in California Article

Vega, WA, Kolody, B, Hwang, J et al. (1993). Prevalence and Magnitude of Perinatal Substance Exposures in California . NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, 329(12), 850-854. 10.1056/NEJM199309163291207

cited authors

  • Vega, WA; Kolody, B; Hwang, J; Noble, A

authors

abstract

  • Perinatal substance exposure has been linked to many neonatal and obstetrical complications. There have been few population-based epidemiologic studies to identify the prevalence and demographic profiles associated with drugs, alcohol, and smoking during pregnancy. We studied a population sample selected according to a multistage probability sampling design to estimate the prevalence of perinatal substance exposures in California in 1992. Urine samples from 29,494 women presenting for delivery in 202 hospitals were coded and screened for toxins; the results of toxicology screening were later linked by code number to the subjects' demographic variables and their reported use of tobacco and prescribed drugs. Urinary toxicologic tests provide conservative estimates because they can detect only very recent substance use. The weighted prevalence for perinatal substance exposure was 5.16 percent for the use of one or more drugs, 6.72 percent for alcohol (analyzed independently), and 8.82 percent for self-reported smoking. The percentage of women testing positive for any drug, including alcohol, was 11.35 percent. Estimates for racial and ethnic groups varied widely. Black women had the highest prevalence of total drug use (14.22 percent), alcohol use (11.58 percent), cocaine use (7.79 percent), and tobacco use (20.12 percent). Most drug exposures occurred among white non-Hispanic and Hispanic women. White non-Hispanic women had the second highest prevalence rate for the use of one or more drugs (6.79 percent) and self-reported tobacco use (14.82 percent). Hispanic women had the second highest prevalence rate for alcohol (6.87 percent). In California in 1992, there were 67,361 estimated perinatal exposures to one or more drugs, including alcohol, and 52,346 self-reported exposures to tobacco. These findings have clinical and public health implications., The obstetrical and neonatal complications associated with substance use by pregnant women include low birth weight, prematurity, abruptio placentae, fetal distress, stillbirth, cerebral infarctions, congenital malformations, and neurobehavioral dysfunction1–4. We conducted anonymous toxicology screening of urine from 29,494 women in California to obtain reliable population-based prevalence estimates of drug and alcohol use among pregnant women. One of every eight Americans lives in California, an ethnically diverse state with large Hispanic, black, and Asian populations. The state's general fertility rate is high: in 1991 the rate among women 15 to 44 years of age was 83.1 live births per… © 1993, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • September 16, 1993

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 850

end page

  • 854

volume

  • 329

issue

  • 12