Addition is like a chronic disease with relapses and remission. When one is addicted, their choices are driven by pathology and not a moral compass's failure. Health workers have raised concerns about women who are addicted to drugs and use them even during pregnancy. The use of drugs during pregnancy has numerous harmful fetal and maternal consequences. Women often abuse cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and several other drugs in pregnancy. The solution to substance abuse during pregnancy can psychosocial and behavioral change. About 40% of women in the united states have a drug use disorder, extending to their pregnancies(Ryan,2019). Women at the age of 19-30 are at a high risk of developing substance use disorder. Women at this age bracket are at their reproductive years hence the increase in prenatal substance abuse. According to researchers, 16% of pregnant women use smoke cigarettes,9% drink alcohol, and 6% use illicit drugs, resulting in approximately 2 million unborn children exposed to drugs. The same numbers are being encountered in Australia and Europe. The most substance has tobacco all over the globe. However, about 20% of women with substance abuse disorder manage to abstain from drugs while pregnant. However, after giving birth, they go back to drugs, which may affect the child's growth as the child relies on breast feeding.
Substance-related outcome
Drinking alcohol heavily during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes such as preterm delivery, reduced gestation age, low birth weight, congenital anomalies, infant mortality, stillbirth ad even miscarriage. The alcohol effects on fetus health are the most pronounced as it is related to adverse neurodevelopment impacts and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder development.
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Alcohol is also associated with long-term effects such as psychosocial outcomes in adulthood, functioning deficits, imperfect speech, behavioral and cognitive challenges in children. Smoking can cause infant mortality, preterm birth, placental abruption, low birth weight, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, and can damage the umbilical cord. Passive smokers can also affect the infant's health by causing cognitive impairment, behavioral dysfunction, sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, and high respiration rates. Pregnant women who take cannabis may assume that it is harmless, but it negatively impacts the fetus, such as low birth weight and preterm labor. Prenatal abuse of the drug can also cause one to be admitted to a neonatal intensive unit. Cannabis use also has long-term effects on the infant, such as behavioral problems, lower academic achievement, reduced attention, and reduced brain functioning in adolescents. The effects of cocaine are overrated; however, it doesn't mean that it has no adverse effects. It is estimated to cause low birth weight, preterm birth, placental abruption, and premature rupture of the membranes during pregnancy. Cocaine has a long term effect on the cognitive development, motor, and language of infants. Methamphetamine is also a drug abused during pregnancy and causes intrauterine fetal death, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, behavioral and developmental disorder, fetal loss, lower birth weight, and shorter gestational ages. Prenatal use causes prenatal withdrawal syndrome, among other effects such as infant mortality, toxemia, third trimester bleeding, respiratory problems, and low birth weight.
Reasons for taking drugs.
Prenatal drug abuse has been reported worldwide, mostly among women who have a history of drug abuse before pregnancy. Some women are unable to quit their drug-taking habit even after getting pregnant as they cannot handle the withdrawal symptoms. Hence they prefer going on with drug-taking, although they are aware that it will harm the baby. These women-only reduce the drug uptake, although it isn't a solution as it will still harm the baby. Lack of education causes women to take drugs during pregnancy. If a pregnant woman isn't aware that drugs will harm the baby, she will continue taking them innocently. Poverty may make pregnant women take drugs to forget their problems as the coming child is also a burden. Teenagers mat also takes drugs to abort the child they are carrying if it is unwanted. They may know that taking a specific drug in excess will be led to abortion; hence they can take the drug to abort and avoid shame and rejection. Taking drugs would also due to a lack of morals(Maguire,2014). If one has no morals, they won't mind taking drugs anytime, even during pregnancy.
Treatment for prenatal substance abuse
Behavioral change counseling is among the few therapies that can help in substance use treatment. Pregnant women are counseled through social media and by nurses when they go to prenatal clinics. Pregnant women are taught the effects the drugs may have on the baby to find a reason to quit substance abuse. However, the success of this therapy is only moderate. Educating women on the harm of drugs to the unborn will also prevent prenatal drug usage for women who may be abusing drugs during pregnancy due to lack of knowledge(Kamke, 2019). It is also advisable to provide financial support to pregnant women who are very poor as poverty is also sometimes a reason for taking drugs. Women or small girls from poverty-stricken homes or communities might take drugs to forget about their problems, especially if the pregnancy was not planned, as it is assumed to add more problems.
Conclusion
Prenatal substance abuse is a public health issue that is increasing with time(Forray,2017). Substance abuse during pregnancy has adverse effects on the fetus and poses a danger to the mother, leading to the death of the fetus or both mother and fetus. Substance abuse may also have long-term effects on the infant, where they interfere with the child's growth and development. Pregnant women may take drugs due to various reasons like stress, lack of education, don’t car attitude or even addiction. Substance abuse during pregnancy can be avoided by giving enough attention to pregnant women and giving them medications that can help them abstain and eventually quit drug abuse. Educating pregnant women on the dangers of taking drugs while pregnant will help in reducing the cases of pregnant women who take drugs due to lack of knowledge. However, there are limited treatments for substance use; hence future research needs to focus on searching for other treatments that can help cure substance abuse during pregnancy.
References
Forray A. (2016). Substance use during pregnancy . PubMed Central (PMC).
Kamke, K., Grenen, E., Robinson, C., & El-Toukhy, S. (2019). Dropout and Abstinence Outcomes in a National Text Messaging Smoking Cessation Intervention for Pregnant Women, Smoke-free MOM: Observational Study. JMIR mHealth and health , 7 (10), e14699.
Maguire D. (2014). Drug addiction in pregnancy: disease not a moral failure. Neonatal network: NN , 33 (1), 11–1
Ryan S. A. (2019). Substance Abuse in Pregnancy. Clinical obstetrics and gynecology , 62 (1),
112–117.
