PRENATAL EXPOSURE TO ILLICIT DRUG ABUSE… WHICH CONSEQUENCES?

Introduction and Objective: Illicit drug abuse during pregnancy is an important public health issue and its use prevalence remains underestimated. This problem may lead to complications that affect the mother, fetus and child development. However, the type of consequences is still a matter of controversies. This issue takes a high importance in primary care services since Family Physician (FP) accompanies pregnancies and child development. The aim of this revision is to determine the aspects that should be considered during the follow up of pregnant women who consume illicit drugs and their children’s development. Method: Revision of articles published on PubMed featuring the MeSH terms “illicit drugs”, “pregnancy”, “child development” and “primary health care”. Comprehensive searches had been conducted in January 2016 and limited to publications between January 2011 and January 2016, in Portuguese or English. Results and Conclusions: Evidence shows that obstetric complications that have been associated with illicit drug abuse during pregnancy are preterm labor, miscarriage, abruption and postpartum hemorrhage. On the other hand, the exposed child has a heightened risk for fetal malformations, executive function difficulties, psychopathologies and poorer mental/motor development. Illicit drug abuse is commonly associated with tobacco or alcohol abuse and poor nutrition. Therefore, it is important to have an assessment of all risk exposure during pregnancy. This public health issue involves a special biopsychosocial dimension, where the FP plays a leading role on prevention and identification of exposure, recognition of medical issues in exposed newborn, and on the protection and follow-up of the exposed infant.