The effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and gender on inhibitory control and attention

• Published in: Neurotoxicology and teratology Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 61 - 68
• Main Authors: Carmody, Dennis P, Bennett, David S, Lewis, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2011
• Subjects: Age; Alcohol; Attention; Attention - drug effects; Cannabis; Child; Child Behavior - drug effects; Children; Cocaine; Cocaine - toxicity; complications; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Emergency; Emotions; Ethanol; Female; Gender; Humans; Inhibitory control; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical Education; Perinatal exposure; Pregnancy; Prenatal cocaine exposure; Prenatal experience; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - chemically induced; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - psychology; Sex differences; Sex Factors; Social Class; Substance-Related Disorders - complications; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Tobacco; Prenatal cocaine exposure; Inhibitory control; Attention
• ISSN: 0892-0362; 1872-9738
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ntt.2010.07.004

Abstract Children exposed prenatally to cocaine show deficits in emotion regulation and inhibitory control. While controlling for the measures of medical complication in the perinatal period, environmental risk, and prenatal polydrug exposure (alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana), we examined the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and gender on attention and inhibitory control in 203 children at ages 6, 9, and 11. Cocaine exposure affected the performance of males, but not females. Heavily exposed males showed deficits in the attention and the inhibition tasks. In addition, a significantly greater proportion of heavily exposed males (21%) than unexposed males (7%) or heavily exposed females (7%) failed to complete the task ( p < 0.01). Even without those poorest performing subjects, the overall accuracy for heavily exposed males (81%) was significantly reduced ( p < 0.05) compared to lightly exposed males (87%) and unexposed males (89%). The findings highlight the importance of considering gender specificity in cocaine exposure effects. Processes by which cocaine effects may be specific to males are discussed.