Perinatal toxicology screening: comparison of various maternal and neonatal samples.
OBJECTIVE
Because cocaine metabolites are concentrated in amniotic fluid, we designed this study to assess the usefulness of amniotic fluid and that of neonatal gastric aspirate for perinatal drug screening and to compare the concentration of cocaine metabolites in various maternal and neonatal specimens.


METHODS
We compared the reliability of various maternal and neonatal specimens for detecting drug exposure and the concentration of cocaine metabolites in these specimens.


RESULTS
Our data showed that screening for perinatal drug abuse with any single specimen leads to false-negative results. Drug screening with neonatal amniotic fluid, gastric aspirate, or cord blood did not improve the reliability of perinatal drug screening.


CONCLUSIONS
Testing more than one type of body fluid may increase the reliability of perinatal drug screening.
Kim
E
E
Division of Neonatology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Brion
L P
LP
Meenan
G
G
Lehrer
M
M
Suresh
B R
BR
D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D003042:Cocaine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009357:Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D009519:New York City; D011247:Pregnancy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection; D014505:Urban Population
D003042:Cocaine