Prenatal Drug Exposure and Executive Function in Early Adolescence

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Attention, Learning, Memory

Abstract

Purpose: Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) is an inconsistent predictor of executive function (EF) (Minnes et al., 2016; Hurt et al., 2001). The purpose of the current study was to assess the association between PCE and EF during adolescence using the Tower of Hanoi (ToH) task controlling for cigarettes, cannabis, and alcohol exposure; biological sex; and environmental risk (ER), as well as interactions on EF performance.
Objective: To examine 1) whether PCE predicts performance on the ToH and 2) whether there is an interaction between prenatal substance exposure, biological sex and environmental risk.
Methods: 135 children (M= 12.6 years, SD=0.19), 40.7% with PCE, who were followed prospectively from birth, received up to 8 ToH puzzle trials of increasing complexity. PCE and other teratogen use was determined by a prenatal maternal questionnaire. PCE was confirmed after birth by mass spectrometry of meconium. ER, the number of environmental risk factors throughout childhood, was assessed based on past work (Carmody et al., 2011). Our outcome measure was the number of correctly completed ToH puzzles. Survival analysis was used to examine our data.
Results: Fig.1 presents % of subjects who completed each trial by sex and exposure. As trial difficulty increased, fewer children were able to solve the puzzle, especially children with PCE. Table 1 presents results from the survival analysis. Main effects were found such that children with high ER, cannabis, or alcohol exposure completed fewer puzzles (p<.05). As predicted, a 3-way interaction was found for PCE x sex x ER such that cocaine-exposed males with high ER had the worst performance.
Conclusion: The current findings are consistent with prior research indicating that males with PCE and exposure to adverse environments may be at particular risk of poorer executive functioning, and highlight the potential importance of examining interactions of PCE, ER, and the child’s sex.

Authors

• Natalia Karpova, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
  Presenting Author

• Dake Zhang, Rutgers Graduate School of Education
  Non-Presenting Author

• Malia Beckwith, Children's Specialized Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Bennett, Drexel University College of Medicine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michael Lewis, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
  Non-Presenting Author