Addressing the neurodevelopmental impacts of prenatal substance exposure: insights from a Taiwanese study on methadone maintenance treatment during pregnancy.

This document is a letter to the editor of Acta Neuropsychiatrica, written by Dr. Lien-Chung Wei and Dr. Hsien-Jane Chiu. The authors discuss their research on the neurodevelopmental impacts of prenatal substance exposure, specifically focusing on methadone maintenance treatment during pregnancy in Taiwan. They highlight the importance of considering socio-economic and parental factors in addition to biological effects when examining developmental outcomes. The authors also support the use of neuroimaging and comprehensive developmental assessments to gain a more detailed understanding of how prenatal exposures impact child development over time. They suggest that larger-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore the mediating effects of various prenatal exposures. [Extracted from the article]