Abstract
Heroin addiction was considered a high risk factor for hearing loss for a mother and her developing fetus due to well-known ototoxic effects of quinine, a common additive to heroin sold to addicts. 21 infants and their heroin addicted mothers were evaluated for auditory impairment from March 1974 through June 1976. Characteristics of the study population were: age of infants: 5 days to 34 months (mean 7.2 ± SD 10.2 mo); age of mothers: 21 to 29 years (mean 24.3 yr ± SD 3.4 yr); maternal length of addiction 1 to 12 years (mean 3.2 ± SD 3.43 yr); and dally habit cost: $5 to $150 (mean $40 ± SD $43). All mothers studied who were on methadone replacement programs (13) admitted to the infrequent but constant use of heroin throughout the pregnancy. A control group of infants and their non-addicted mothers were matched by age to the study infants. Evaluation in all subjects consisted of case history information, otological examination and standard audiological techniques. According to their ages, infants were tested by a neonatal screening test or by a soundfield audiometry or by play audiometry. The study showed no evidence of hearing impairment in either the addicted mothers or their infants. Although they were considered normal, responses of 6 addicted neonates were depressed as compared to their matched control possibly due to their use of phenobarbltal. Maternal heroin addiction did not seem to represent a high risk factor for hearing loss in this population possibly because quinine exposure had not reached toxic levels.
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Mayer, D., Pereira, G. & Yaffe, S. HEARING FUNCTION AND MATERNAL HEROIN ADDICTION. Pediatr Res 11, 418 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-00294
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-00294