55 D.M. Whitacre (ed.), Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology,
Volume 227, Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01327-5_2, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
1 Introduction
Addictive substance use is most prevalent in people who are of reproductive-age.
In a national prevalence survey performed among pregnant women aged 15–44
years, 10.8 % reported using alcohol, 17 % reported smoking during pregnancy, and
4.4 % reported abusing one or more illicit substances (Fig. 1) (SAMHSA 2011).
Substance abuse for a pregnant woman is twice as dangerous as for others, because:
• She may harm her own health and impair her ability to support a successful
pregnancy
• In utero exposure to substances of abuse either may affect fetal development or
may induce physiological changes (e.g., organic and/or neurocognitive) to the
child later in life (Narkowicz et al. 2012)
More than 75 % of infants exposed to drugs later suffer from major medical
problems. Similar problems result from excessive use of tobacco (cigarettes) during
Effects of Addictive Substances During
Pregnancy and Infancy and Their Analysis
in Biological Materials
Justyna Plotka, Sylwia Narkowicz, Żaneta Polkowska,
Marek Biziuk, and Jacek Namieśnik
J. Plotka (*)•S.Narkowicz•Ż.Polkowska•M.Biziuk•J.Namieśnik
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Faculty, Gdansk University of Technology
(GUT), 11/12 Narutowicza Street, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
e-mail: plotkajustyna@gmail.com; chemanal@pg.gda.pl
Contents
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 55
2 Addictive Substance Use by Pregnant Women: A Social Problem ..................................... 58
3 The Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Addictive Substances ................................................. 59
4 BiomonitoringtoAssessInUteroExposurestoAddictiveSubstances .............................. 63
5 RoleofthePlacentainBiomonitoringofAddictiveSubstances ......................................... 64
6 AnalysisofAddictiveSubstancesinBiologicalMedia ....................................................... 67
7 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 74
References .................................................................................................................................. 75
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