Mothers who use methamphetamine during pregnancy risks causing abnormalities in the brain development of their unborn child, a landmark study on the effects of the drug on pregnancy revealed

According to the lead author of the study, Linda Chang MD of the John A. Burns School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii, methamphetamine use among pregnant women and those of childbearing age is a widespread problem. It is only, however, with the current study that the effects of methamphetamine use on the brain development of an unborn child were discovered.

In this study, the researchers performed MRI brain scans on 29 children aged three to four years old and whose mothers used methamphetamine while pregnant. Additional brain scans on 37 similarly aged children who were unexposed prenatally to meth were also conducted for comparison purposes. All of these MRI brain scans utilized diffusion tensor imaging which measured how the molecules of the children’s brains were diffused. Diffusion tensor imaging also shows any abnormalities in the brain’s structures, which consequently reflect any abnormal brain development.

The MRI scans of the two groups of children exhibited differences in the brain’s maturation and white matter structure. Most significantly, the brain scans of children who were prenatally exposed to meth showed a diffusion of molecules that was four percent lower than the unexposed children.

Chang explained that lower molecule diffusion in the brain’s white matter generally indicate that the brain has more compact axonal fibers. This, according to her, was consistent with their previous findings that children who were prenatally exposed to meth have smaller subcortial structures.

“Our findings suggest prenatal meth exposure accelerates brain development in an abnormal pattern,” Chang said. “Such abnormal brain development may explain why some children with prenatal meth exposure reach developmental milestones later than others.”

The findings of this study add to existing literature on the effects of prenatal meth exposure to the child. Several previous studies on the subject have shown that such exposure can cause increased lethargy and stress among infants as well as poorer locomotor ability.

At present, several long-term studies are being conducted to ascertain if the abnormalities found in the brain of children prenatally exposed to meth have chances of normalizing with age.

The findings of this study point to only one of the adverse affects of methamphetamine use not only to the person actually using it but also to people around him or her. Here at Pacific Hills Treatment Center, you can learn more about meth addiction, its effects, and how to effectively recover from it. We are a Christian alcohol and drug rehab center that offer faith-based and holistic treatment programs for drug addiction, alcoholism, and co-occurring mental disorders.