ReviewNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2015
Developmental consequences of fetal exposure to drugs: what we know and what we still must learn.
Review in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 219 papers, 9 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
219 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 471 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Effects of integrated programs for substance-involved mothers on infant and child development outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Infant mental health journal · 2025Pooled it
- Birth, cognitive and behavioral effects of intrauterine cannabis exposure in infants and children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Exercise Intervention Improves Blood Glucose Levels and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in GDM Patients: A Meta-Analysis.Computational and mathematical methods in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- The importance of non-coding RNAs in environmental stress-related developmental brain disorders: A systematic review of evidence associated with exposure to alcohol, anesthetic drugs, nicotine, and viral infections.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Premature Mortality, Risk Factors, and Causes of Death Following Childhood-Onset Neurological Impairments: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Pooled it
- Associations of Prescribed ADHD Medication in Pregnancy with Pregnancy-Related and Offspring Outcomes: A Systematic Review.CNS drugs · 2020Pooled 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
- Antenatal Exposure to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder and Infant Outcomes in the Eat, Sleep, Console for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Randomized Controlled Trial.The Journal of pediatrics · 2026Trial
- Obstetric Pharmacoethics: An ethical framework for obstetric pharmacology.European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology · 2026Article
- Developmental Care and Follow-Up of Infants Exposed to Alcohol and/or Drugs in Utero: An Australian Benchmarking Survey.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2026Article
- Prenatal Coca Paste Exposure Impairs Hippocampal Neuronal Development and Recognition Memory in Offspring.Neurotoxicity research · 2026Article
- CMIP as a novel candidate gene for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2026Observational
- Prenatal Prescription Opioid Analgesic Exposure and Academic Performance in Third Grade Children: A Population-Based Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Article
- ING Proteins and Neural Development in Newborns from Alcohol- and/or Drug-Abusing Pregnant Women.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- High-resolution in utero SV2A PET imaging of the nonhuman primate brain using the NeuroEXPLORER.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2026Article
- Intergenerational transmission of maternal childhood maltreatment, prenatal substance exposure, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early adolescence at age 12.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Characteristics of infant deaths with positive hair toxicology.Forensic science, medicine, and pathology · 2026Article
- Prescribed medicines among pregnant women attending health facilities in Eritrea: patterns, safety, and determinants.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
159 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Most drugs of abuse easily cross the placenta and can affect fetal brain development. In utero exposures to drugs thus can have long-lasting implications for brain structure and function. These effects on the developing nervous system, before homeostatic regulatory mechanisms are properly calibrated, often differ from their effects on mature systems. In this review, we describe current knowledge on how alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamine, Ecstasy, and opiates (among other drugs) produce alterations in neurodevelopmental trajectory. We focus both on animal models and available clinical and imaging data from cross-sectional and longitudinal human studies. Early studies of fetal exposures focused on classic teratological methods that are insufficient for revealing more subtle effects that are nevertheless very behaviorally relevant. Modern mechanistic approaches have informed us greatly as to how to potentially ameliorate the induced deficits in brain formation and function, but conclude that better delineation of sensitive periods, dose-response relationships, and long-term longitudinal studies assessing future risk of offspring to exhibit learning disabilities, mental health disorders, and limited neural adaptations are crucial to limit the societal impact of these exposures.
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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.