Date of Award
8-2013
Level of Access Assigned by Author
Campus-Only Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Advisor
Marie Hayes
Second Committee Member
Alan Rosenwasser
Third Committee Member
Thane Fremouw
Abstract
Prenatal methadone exposure represents risk to the developing fetus, and represents risk to the developing infant both through direct effects of chronic opiate exposure and secondary effects that accompany opiate addiction, including maternal alcohol use, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and environmental factors. The event-related potential (ERP) was used as a measure of neurocognitive development at 7-months of age, and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development was administered at 9-months of age. Methadone- exposed infants showed a neurocognitive ERP profile characterized by dysmaturity when compared with same-age, demographically matched comparison infants. These developmental markers of ERP maturity were predictive of clinical outcome using the Bayley Scales. At 9-months, methadone-exposed infants with comorbid history of alcohol exposure exhibited lower cognitive and language scores, effects that were also predicted by severity of neonatal abstinence syndrome after birth. Methadone-exposed infants exhibited significantly lower motor scores when compared with normative samples, an effect that was predicted by maternal methadone dose increase and maternal alcohol use.
Recommended Citation
Logan, Beth A., "Neurocognition and Prenatal Exposure to Methadone: Comparison of the Event Related Potential and The Bayley Scales of Infant Development in the First Year" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2027.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/2027