The burden of prenatal and early life maternal substance use among children at risk of maltreatment: A systematic review
Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Drug and Alcohol Review
Abstract
Issues: Although maternal substance use is a known risk factor for child maltreatment, evidence on the scale of substance use is needed to inform prevention
responses. This systematic review synthesised prevalence estimates of maternal
substance use during pregnancy and early life among children at risk of maltreatment. Ovid, Pubmed, CINAHL, PsychInfo and ProQuest databases were searched.
We included observational studies that sampled children at risk of maltreatment
in high-income countries and reported information on maternal substance use
during pregnancy and/or the child’s first year of life. We extracted study characteristics and data to calculate prevalence, assessed risk of bias and conducted a
narrative synthesis; there were insufficient comparable populations or outcomes
to quantitatively synthesise results.
Key Findings: Thirty five of 14,084 titles were included. Fifteen studies had adequately sized and representative samples to estimate prevalence. Maternal substance use prevalence ranged from 2.4% to 40.6%. Maternal substance use was
highest among infants referred to child protection at birth (40.6%) and children in
out-of-home care (10.4% to 37.2%). Prevalence was higher when studies defined
substance use more broadly and when maternal substance use was ascertained
from both child and mother records.
Implications: Supportive, coordinated responses to maternal substance use are
needed from health and child protection services, spanning alcohol and other
drug treatment, antenatal and postnatal care.
Conclusions: Prenatal and early life maternal substance use is common among
child maltreatment populations, particularly among younger children and those
with more serious maltreatment.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
substance use, child maltreatment, MEDICINE::Social medicine::Public health medicine research areas::Epidemiology, intimate partner violence, prevalence, Australia, International publications
Citation
Powell, M., Pilkington, R., Varney, B., Havard, A., Lynch, J., Dobbins, T., ... & Falster, K. (2024). The burden of prenatal and early life maternal substance use among children at risk of maltreatment: A systematic review. Drug and alcohol review.