SynthesisBMC psychiatry2014
Neurobehavioral consequences of chronic intrauterine opioid exposure in infants and preschool children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC psychiatry, 2014. 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 53 papers, 5 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
53 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 132 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Childhood neurodevelopment after prescription of maintenance methadone for opioid dependency in pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2019Pooled it
- Guideline
- Maternal Use of Opioids During Pregnancy and Congenital Malformations: A Systematic Review.Pediatrics · 2017Pooled it
- Anxiety, Depression, and Emotional Dysregulation Following Prenatal Substance Exposure.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- From morphine to buprenorphine - Modeling opioid use disorder and its treatment during pregnancy: Effects on maternal care and offspring neurodevelopment in a translational rodent model.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2025Article
- Article
- Epigenome-wide association study of placental co-methylated regions in newborns for prenatal opioid exposure.Environmental epigenetics · 2025Article
- Prenatal methadone exposure produces functional and molecular alterations in the basolateral amygdala and decreased voluntary ethanol intake in female, but not male offspring.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Gestational Opioid Exposure: From Morphine to MOUD - How Opioids Impact Offspring Development and Maternal Care.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- A human iPSC-derived midbrain neural stem cell model of prenatal opioid exposure and withdrawal: A proof of concept study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Neurobehavioral disorders among children born to mothers exposed to illicit substances during pregnancy.BMC medicine · 2024Article
- Effects of prenatal opioid exposure on infant sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity.Psychophysiology · 2024Article
- Prenatal Exposure to Opioids and Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Children: A Bayesian Mediation Analysis.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Decreased myelin-related gene expression in the nucleus accumbens during spontaneous neonatal opioid withdrawal in the absence of long-term behavioral effects in adult outbred CFW mice.Neuropharmacology · 2023Article
- Decreased myelin-related gene expression in the nucleus accumbens during spontaneous neonatal opioid withdrawal in the absence of long-term behavioral effects in adult outbred CFW mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Perinatal opioid exposure leads to decreased social play in adolescent male and female rats: Potential role of oxytocin signaling in brain regions associated with social reward.Hormones and behavior · 2023Article
- Prenatal Morphine Exposure Increases Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Programs Neurogenic Hypertension in the Adult Offspring.Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979) · 2023Article
- Perinatal Opioid Exposure Leads to Decreased Social Play in Adolescent Male and Female Rats: Potential Role of Oxytocin Signaling in Brain Regions Associated with Social Reward.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIt is assumed within the accumulated literature that children born of pregnant opioid dependent mothers have impaired neurobehavioral function as a consequence of chronic intrauterine opioid use.
methodsQuantitative and systematic review of the literature on the consequences of chronic maternal opioid use during pregnancy on neurobehavioral function of children was conducted using the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched Cinahl, EMBASE, PsychINFO and MEDLINE between the periods of January 1995 to January 2012.
resultsThere were only 5 studies out of the 200 identified that quantitatively reported on neurobehavioral function of children after maternal opioid use during pregnancy. All 5 were case control studies with the number of exposed subjects within the studies ranging from 33-143 and 45-85 for the controls. This meta-analysis showed no significant impairments, at a non-conservative significance level of p < 0.05, for cognitive, psychomotor or observed behavioural outcomes for chronic intra-uterine exposed infants and pre-school children compared to non-exposed infants and children. However, all domains suggested a trend to poor outcomes in infants/children of opioid using mothers. The magnitude of all possible effects was small according to Cohen's benchmark criteria.
conclusionsChronic intra-uterine opioid exposed infants and pre-school children experienced no significant impairment in neurobehavioral outcomes when compared to non-exposed peers, although in all domains there was a trend to poorer outcomes. The findings of this review are limited by the small number of studies analysed, the heterogenous populations and small numbers within the individual studies. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine if any neuropsychological impairments appear after the age of 5 years and to help investigate further the role of environmental risk factors on the effect of 'core' phenotypes.
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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.