Introduction

Cocaine and/or cannabis use during pregnancy is a growing problem of relevance for global public health. Exposed children may have a wide range of perinatal complications, but there is little knowledge on their course.

Objective

To describe and compare the health trajectories of children prenatally exposed and unexposed to cocaine and/or cannabis over 4 years.

Methods

Retrospective, cohort study with a double control group. Exposed children were detected through a urine test by the Department of Neonatology of a public hospital between 2009 and 2013.

Results

A total of 29 exposed children and 58 unexposed children were assessed. The most common drugs detected in the exposed group were cocaine and cannabis. Most mothers were poly-drug users. The exposed group showed significant differences in relation to a lower frequency of health checkups (p < 0.0001) and a higher number of visits to the emergency department (p = 0.0295) and hospitalizations (p = 0.007), mainly due to respiratory conditions. In addition, they had a greater rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, changes of home, and legal interventions. In this group, 1 child and 2 parents had a violent death. No deaths were reported in the unexposed group.

Conclusions

Children prenatally exposed to cocaine and/or cannabis had a lower number of health checkups and a higher number of visits to the emergency department and hospitalizations. Besides, they showed a greater rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, changes of home, legal interventions, and violent deaths in the direct family group.

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