Biomedical subjects

S Martier

Publications and source records attributed to S Martier.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Prenatal alcohol exposure and sustained attention in the preschool years.

The effects of fetal alcohol exposure on sustained attention in the preschool years were investigated in a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged urban children. The 245 children examined were the 4-year 10-month-old follow-up cohort of a prospective study begun while their mothers were pregnant. Sustained attention was assessed by an automated, computer-administered vigilance task. Indices of fetal alcohol exposure included three measures of maternal drinking and two early indicators of fetal alcohol damage. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate regression techniques, both with and without adjustment for covariates. None of the analyses supported the hypothesis that fetal alcohol exposure adversely affects sustained attention performance in preschool children. We infer that, if there is an effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on vigilance task performance, that effect is small.

Arousal↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prenatal alcohol exposure and cognitive development in the preschool years.

The teratogenic effects of drinking during pregnancy on cognitive development were investigated in a cohort of disadvantaged mother-infant pairs. Three indices associated with maternal alcohol use were related to comprehensive cognitive measures obtained during five in-home assessments through age four years, ten months. Birth weight and a tally of craniofacial anomalies were also evaluated as early indicators of fetal alcohol damage. Multiple analyses relating the alcohol and cognitive measures provided no evidence of an adverse alcohol effect on cognitive development in the absence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Assessments based on confidence intervals indicated that an average decrement of more than two points (IQ equivalent) on the five cognitive measures is unlikely for relatively heavy levels of maternal alcohol use or alcohol-related problems. Marginal relationships were observed between cognitive measures and the neonatal indicators, but depended heavily on the influence of a child exhibiting signs consistent with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This case therefore received special attention. The implications of the relationships involving the neonatal indicators were investigated using arguments based on path analysis.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Expressive language development of children exposed to cocaine prenatally: literature review and report of a prospective cohort study.

It was hypothesized that prenatal exposure to cocaine and other substances would be related to delayed expressive language development. Speech and language data were available for 458 6-year olds (204 were exposed to cocaine). No significant univariate or multivariate differences by cocaine exposure group were observed. Classification and regression tree modeling was then used to identify language variable composites predictive of cocaine exposure status. Meaningful cut points for two language measures were identified and validated. Children with a type token ratio of less than 0.42 and with fewer than 97 word types were classified into a low language group. Low language children (n = 57) were more likely to be cocaine exposed (63.1%), with cocaine-exposed children 2.4 times more likely to be in the low language group compared with control children after adjustment for covariates. Prenatal cigarette, but not alcohol exposure, was also significantly related to expressive language delays.

Child↗