The Star: August 22, 2019

The Star Thursday August 22 2019
18
Maternal drug use study reveals
poor outcome for children
• By Jess Gibson
INCREASED OPIOID and other
drug use by pregnant women is
affecting children’s readiness for
learning when they start school,
new research has discovered.
Canterbury University
professor Lianne Woodward
has recently completed a fiveyear
study looking into the
development of babies affected
by their mothers’
drug use.
Prof
Woodward
studied 100
babies whose
mothers took
methadone to
treat opioid
Lianne
Woodward
NEWS
dependence and
110 babies whose
mothers did not.
With PhD graduate Dr
Samantha Lee, Prof Woodward
followed the babies from birth
to four and a half years old,
with researchers assessing the
children’s physical and motor
development, social-emotional
skills, approaches to learning,
language, and cognitive
functioning.
“Opioid use in New Zealand
is on the rise, so the hope is
that this study can contribute
to health and education services
planning to help support the
needs of these children and
their families,” Prof Woodward
said.
“We wanted to understand
not only the effects of maternal
substance use during pregnancy
on children’s development but
also how social disadvantage and
other medical and family factors
might contribute to difficulties.”
Prof Woodward is an
international expert in child
developmental psychology.
Her study, Health and Neuro
development of Children Born
to Opioid Dependent Mothers
at School Entry, looks at the
extent and the mix of mothers’
substance use as well other social
and biological factors.
news online at www.star.kiwi
The results found that over
70 per cent of children born to
opioid-dependent mothers had at
least one health or developmental
difficulty that would likely
impact their schooling,
compared to 29 per cent of
children drawn from the general
population.
Multiple problems were also
common, affecting 48 per cent
of methadone-exposed children
compared with 15 per cent of
control-group children.
The research showed the
more substance used during
pregnancy, the worse the
outcomes for children.
However, with early targeted
help for these children and their
families, children’s outcomes can
be improved.
“It is clear from our results
that when there is good support
for the family and the family
is coping with the challenges
of parenting, their children do
well,” she said.
“We can mitigate the
long-term risks associated
with opioids and other forms
of maternal drug use during
pregnancy, but we need early
developmental surveillance
and intervention to identify
those who will benefit from
support.”
7 MARCH
LINCOLN
The coming week in our history
August 22, 1969 – Gary
Frazer from Swannanoa, North
Canterbury, became the first
New Zealand Young Farmer of
the Year.
August 23, 1920 –
Swimmer Violet Waldron was
New Zealand’s first female
Olympian, and part of New
Zealand’s first Olympic team of
four at the Antwerp Summer
Olympics.
August 24, 1878 – The
Wellington steam train service
was opened, it was said to
be the first in the Southern
Hemisphere.
August 25, 1916 – After
being found guilty of desertion,
28-year-old Private Frank
Hughes was killed by a firing
squad in Hallencourt, northern
France. He was the first New
Zealand soldier executed during
World War 1.
August 26, 1866 – After
two bungled attempts and near
disaster at sea, the installation
of the first communications
cable between the North and
South Island was completed. A
copper telegraph cable was laid
on the sea floor from Whites
Bay, north of Blenheim, to Lyall
Bay on Wellington’s south coast.
Tickets
On Sale Now
www.selwynsounds.co.nz
August 27, 1904 –
Notorious prison escaper
Joseph Pawelka escaped from
Wellington’s Terrace Gaol. He
was never recaptured. While
family lore suggests he fled
to Canada, in 1913 New Zealand
Truth published an unsourced
account of his escape and
alleged new life as a rebel in
Mexico.
August 28, 1992 –
Cantabrians awoke to find
the region blanketed in snow.
The ‘Big Snow’, as the storm
came to be known, was the
region’s heaviest for 30 years. By
mid-morning next day, power
was out throughout much of
the region. Most of they had
electricity restored by the
afternoon, but it took days for
line gangs to reach some rural
areas.