Wednesday 10th March 2010
Children born to P-addicted mothers show serious concentration and behaviour problems as they start school.
A joint American-New Zealand study has found that when US methamphetamine babies reach the age of 5, many are unable to sit quietly and focus on a single task.
Auckland University researchers say babies here are showing the same brain problems at birth as their American counterparts, suggesting they are likely to develop similar behaviour problems as they grow older.
Lead researcher Dr Trecia Wouldes said US academics had begun studying the children of crack cocaine mothers 15 years ago and included P mothers when the drug took hold in some parts of the country.
Auckland was later asked to join Honolulu, Los Angeles, Iowa and Oklahoma in the study because of our high rate of methamphetamine abuse.
Dr Wouldes said the American cocaine babies did not show any behaviour differences until the age of 4, but these grew dramatically as they got older.
"They're starting to find that those are the kids that are using drugs, they've got more problems at school, they've got more psychological problems - a whole raft of things."
The P babies also seemed normal at first but at 5 they began to show significant behaviour problems as well.
For the full story go to:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/drug-abuse/news/article.cfm?c_id=181&objectid=10630279