ArticleNeuroImage2007
Volumetric cerebral characteristics of children exposed to opiates and other substances in utero.
Article in NeuroImage, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 74 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurodevelopmental outcomes of prenatal opioid exposure and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome: A systematic review from birth to early adulthood.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Pooled it
- Opioid treatment for opioid withdrawal in newborn infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Sedatives for opioid withdrawal in newborn infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of opioid use in pregnancy on pediatric development and behaviour in children older than age 2: Systematic review.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2019Pooled it
- Cognitive and Motor Outcomes of Children With Prenatal Opioid Exposure: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2019Pooled it
- The Influences of Drug Abuse on Mother-Infant Interaction Through the Lens of the Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness: A Review.Frontiers in public health · 2019Pooled it
- Maternal Use of Opioids During Pregnancy and Congenital Malformations: A Systematic Review.Pediatrics · 2017Pooled it
- Neurobehavioral consequences of chronic intrauterine opioid exposure in infants and preschool children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2014Pooled it
- Article
- Choline supplementation partially reverses prefrontal neurochemical deficits induced by perinatal opioid exposure.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Antenatal Opioid Exposure and Cerebral Cortical Maturation in Newborns.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Outpatient tapering of buprenorphine in opioid use disorder pregnancies may improve neonatal outcomes.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Article
- Children had smaller brain volumes and cortical surface areas after prenatal opioid maintenance therapy exposure.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Article
- A human iPSC-derived midbrain neural stem cell model of prenatal opioid exposure and withdrawal: A proof of concept study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Impact of Intrauterine Insults on Fetal and Postnatal Cerebellar Development in Humans and Rodents.Cells · 2024Review
- Ultrasound evaluation of brain parenchyma in preterm infants with prenatal opioid exposure.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2024Article
- Chronic Opioid Treatment Arrests Neurodevelopment and Alters Synaptic Activity in Human Midbrain Organoids.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Prenatal heroin exposure alters brain morphology and connectivity in adolescent mice.NMR in biomedicine · 2023Article
- Intrauterine and Neonatal Exposure to Opioids: Toxicological, Clinical, and Medico-Legal Issues.Toxics · 2023Review
- Body size and brain volumetry in the rat following prolonged morphine administration in infancy and adulthood.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Morphometric cerebral characteristics were studied in children with prenatal poly-substance exposure (n=14) compared to controls (n=14) without such exposure. Ten of the substance-exposed children were born to mothers who used opiates (heroin) throughout the pregnancy. Groups were compared across 16 brain measures: cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, accumbens area, caudate, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, lateral ventricles, inferior lateral ventricles, and the 3rd and 4th ventricles. In addition, continuous measurement of thickness across the entire cortical mantle was performed. Volumetric characteristics were correlated with ability and questionnaire assessments 2 years prior to scan. Compared to controls, the substance-exposed children had smaller intracranial and brain volumes, including smaller cerebral cortex, amygdala, accumbens area, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, and inferior lateral ventricles, and thinner cortex of the right anterior cingulate and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Pallidum and putamen appeared especially reduced in the subgroup exposed to opiates. Only volumes of the right anterior cingulate, the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the accumbens area, showed some association with ability and questionnaire measures. The sample studied is rare and hence small, so conclusions cannot be drawn with certainty. Morphometric group differences were observed, but associations with previous behavioral assessment were generally weak. Some of the volumetric differences, particularly thinner cortex in part of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex, may be moderately involved in cognitive and behavioral difficulties more frequently experienced by opiate and poly-substance-exposed children.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.