The objective was to determine the effect of in utero cocaine exposure on birth growth parameters and incidence of small for gestational age infants in a socioeconomically and ethnically homogeneous population. The study population included 1,992 inner city African-American women who delivered at or beyond 20 weeks gestation at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Medical Center. 405 (20%) of the infants were identified as cocaine-exposed (Coc) by maternal self-report and/or one or more positive assays from maternal urine, infant urine, and infant meconium. 24% of the study infants were exposed in utero to nicotine (Coc 76% v. Non-Coc 11%, p<0.0001); 33% to alcohol (Coc 70% v. Non-Coc 23%, p<0.0001); and 13% to marijuana (Coc 43% v. Non-Coc 5%, p<0.0001). Comparisons of birth parameters follow: Table A stepwise logistic regression model, including in utero exposure to cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, infant gender, and maternal age, height, and body mass index, was used to identify key determinants of small for gestational age (SGA). Each of the following were found to be significantly related to SGA: cocaine (Odds Ratio=1.97; p=0.0001), nicotine (OR=1.461; p=0.02), male infant gender(OR=1.375; p=0.008), and maternal height (OR=0.958; p=0.0001). These data reveal that inner city African-American infants exposed prenatally to cocaine show significant reductions in birth growth parameters and are nearly twice as likely to be SGA when compared to unexposed infants.
