Heroin addiction and pregnancy.

Pregnant heroin addicts tend to be younger than nonaddicted pregnant patients, unmarried or separated from spouses, and a disproportionately large number are members of minority ethnic groups. Heroin addiction during pregnancy is associated with several significant medical and obstetrical complications and may result in both acute and chronic abnormalities in neonates. Malnutrition, venereal disease, hepatitis, pulmonary complications, preeclampsia and third-trimester bleeding are the most common maternal complications, while fetal death, intrauterine growth retardation, prematurity and withdrawal symptoms affect the fetus and neonate. There is controversy about treating addicts with methadone during pregnancy. The findings of studies in animals suggest that there may be a long-lasting drug-induced syndrome, characterized by growth retardation, delayed motor development and behavior abnormalities in offspring of heroin-addicted or methadone-treated mothers.