It has long been known that the use of tobacco, opioids, alcohol, and other substances have negatively impacted children in the womb. A recent study done by JAMA Network Open has resurfaced this issue by drawing a strong correlation between substance use during pregnancy and development of ADHD in children as they age.
The article explains:
"Opioids include prescription pain medications such as oxycontin and morphine, as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and opium, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. People who used more than one substance during pregnancy, combining tobacco and marijuana or opioids and alcohol, for example, raised their child's risk for developing ADHD by nearly 50%, the researchers said."
What are your thoughts? What are steps that can be made to solve this issue? Is this a matter of lack of education? What changes can be made to better educate expecting mothers?
I think is a given, any kind of substance abuse during pregnancy will almost always result in negative affects towards the child. I definitely think there could be lack of knowledge there. Maybe if mothers were more aware of the risks that come with substances abuse they would be more reluctant to using them while pregnant.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There I'm not aware of anything you can do besides educate the mothers. That seems to be the only real option, since you can't force these mothers to do anything. I think with proper education programs in place we can help lessen these problems.
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