Cocaine in all forms is the number one illicit drug of choice among pregnant women. Records of 70 children with cocaine exposure in utero who were referred for developmental evaluation at a large inner-city hospital were reviewed in an effort to determine whether a specific pattern of abnormalities could be discerned. Patients received physical examinations, neurological screenings, and behavioral and developmental assessments based on the Gesell Developmental Inventory, and the Denver Developmental Screening Test. Documentation of specified drug use was obtained by history. Mean age (SEM) at referral was 19.2 (1.7) months. All mothers used cocaine in one of its forms, although polydrug use was common. Growth parameters were low (median = 15th percentile). Significant neurodevelopmental abnormalities were observed, including language delay in 94% of the children and an extremely high frequency of autism (11.4%). The high rate of autistic disorders not known to occur in children exposed to alcohol or opiates alone suggests specific cocaine effects. (Davis, E., Fennoy, I., Laraque, D., Kanem, N., Brown, G. & Mitchell, J. (1992). Autism and developmental abnormalities in children with perinatal cocaine exposure. Journal of the National Medical Association, 84(4), 315-19).)
A recent study noted that both first born and late born children exhibited greater tendencies toward autism than children in the middle. As a woman grows older her testosterone levels increase. This might explain more autistic children coming to older mothers. Why are firstborn often autistic?
One reason may be that this is the most difficult of births, and often pregnancies. Autism, besides being a condition with genetic causes, is caused by such effects as mother’s use of cocaine. It could be explored whether autistic children of older mothers vs. firstborns come from families of left handers, or families displaying OCD, borderlines, or narcissists an equal amount of the time. (Those conditions are associated with autism in family of origin.)
Also, how often do mothers giving birth to an autistic child as their first child choose to have no other children? This would skew the statistics.
