title: Prenatal Cocaine Exposure and Motor Performance at 4 Months.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The relation between prenatal cocaine exposure and quality of movement was studied at 4 mo using the Posture and Fine Motor Assessment of Infants (PFMAI-I).
  
  
  METHODS
  Posture and fine motor scores of 4-month-old infants exposed to cocaine in utero (n= 370) were compared with an unexposed group (n= 533) within the context of gestational age, medical and demographic characteristics, and level of prenatal substance exposure using the PFMAI-I.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Infants prenatally exposed to cocaine had significantly lower posture scores than infants in the unexposed group. There was no main effect of cocaine exposure on fine motor scores; however, there were independent effects of gestational age at birth on both posture and fine motor scores at 4-mo corrected age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate independent contributions of prenatal cocaine exposure and prematurity to risk of motor delay and support the validity of the PFMAI-I as a measure of motor competence in early infancy.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and The Brown Center for the Study of Children At Risk, Women and Infants' Hospital, 101 Dudley Street, Providence, RI 02748.
authors.forename: Rosemarie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bigsby
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and The Brown Center for the Study of Children At Risk, Providence, RI.
authors.forename: Linda L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: LaGasse
authors.affiliation: Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and The Brown Center for the Study of Children At Risk, Providence, RI.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lester
authors.affiliation: Professor of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI.
authors.forename: Seetha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shankaran
authors.affiliation: Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky Medical School, Lexington.
authors.forename: Henrietta
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bada
authors.affiliation: Professor of Pediatrics, University of Miami Medical School, Miami, FL.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Senior Study Director, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: child development; cocaine-related disorders; motor skills; posture; prenatal exposure delayed effects