A prospective cohort associated maternal benzodiazepine use with later educational delay, alongside social and other prenatal factors.
Researchers followed 100 methadone-exposed children and 110 comparison children to age 9.5 years. Teacher reports and standardized achievement testing identified more educational difficulties in the exposed group. Maternal benzodiazepine use was associated with educational risk in adjusted analysis, with an odds ratio of 2.70 and a wide confidence interval.
Families differed in multiple prenatal and postnatal circumstances. Modest numbers, co-exposures, maternal education, and other social influences leave residual uncertainty. The association does not establish that a particular benzodiazepine caused an individual child’s difficulties. It also should not be generalized to every prescribed dose or pregnancy population. The paper supports a multifactorial developmental assessment that retains both exposure evidence and the child’s social and educational context.
Original analysis of the supplied journal article, identified as PMC6786534.