Prenatal drug exposure and executive function in early adolescence

• Published in: Neurotoxicology and teratology Vol. 88; p. 107036
• Main Authors: Karpova, Natalia, Zhang, Dake, Beckwith, Anna Malia, Bennett, David S., Lewis, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.11.2021
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - drug effects; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Child; Cocaine - pharmacology; Environmental risk; Ethanol - pharmacology; Executive function; Executive Function - drug effects; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pregnancy; Prenatal cocaine exposure; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Sex Factors; Substance use; Tower of Hanoi; Substance use; Tower of Hanoi; Executive function; Prenatal cocaine exposure; Environmental risk
• ISSN: 0892-0362; 1872-9738
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ntt.2021.107036

Study of the relationship between prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) and executive function (EF) has yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether PCE, biological sex, environmental risk, and their interaction predicted EF in early adolescence. 135 12-year-old adolescents (40.7% with PCE), who were followed prospectively from birth, attempted up to 8 Tower of Hanoi (ToH) puzzle trials of increasing complexity. The number of correctly completed puzzles served as the main outcome measure. Survival analysis was used to examine predictors of the number of successfully completed trials. As trial difficulty increased, fewer adolescents were able to solve the TOH puzzle. Adolescents from high risk environments and with either prenatal alcohol or prenatal cannabis exposure completed fewer puzzles (p < .05). In addition, a hypothesized 3-way interaction of PCE x sex x environmental risk was found such that cocaine-exposed males with high environmental risk had the worst performance (p < .01). The current findings are consistent with prior research indicating that males with PCE may be at particular risk of poorer functioning and highlight the potential importance of examining adolescent's sex and environmental risk as moderators of PCE effects. •Environmental risk has a potential negative role on adolescents' executive function.•Prenatal alcohol and cannabis exposure may affect executive function.•Males with prenatal cocaine exposure from high risk environments had poorer executive function.