Exposure to psychoactive substances in women who request voluntary termination of pregnancy assessed by serum and hair testing

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2009.12.042 Byline: M. Falcon (a), F. Valero (a), M. Pellegrini (b), M.C. Rotolo (b), G. Scaravelli (b), J. Joya (c), O. Vall (c), O. Garcia Algar (c), A. Luna (a), S. Pichini (b) Keywords: Drug abuse; Pregnancy; Induced abortion Abstract: Drug abuse is a worldwide phenomenon with significant health and socioeconomic impact and it is of particular concern in women of reproductive age and in pregnant women. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of drug use by serum and hair testing in a cohort of pregnant women at 12th week gestation who decided voluntarily to interrupt their pregnancy and to investigate the relationship between drug exposure and induced abortions (IA), repeated IA and contraception. The study was conducted in an obstetrics clinic authorised to perform IA in Murcia, Spain during an 18 months period (2007-2009). Apart from serum and/or hair testing, the 142 women enrolled in the study completed a detailed questionnaire regarding drug, alcohol and tobacco use in the previous 3 months. Serum and hair samples were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry assays. Hair and serum samples showed a 30% overall positivity to drugs of abuse. Of these samples, 20.4, 14.1, 4.2 and 1.4% were positive for cannabinoids, cocaine, opiates, and MDMA, respectively, with polydrug use in 5.6% cases. In this cohort, a positive association was found between drug use and repeated IA. The results highlight the need for promoting pregnancy planning for young women in general, especially when consuming psychoactive substances as well as promote safe and accessible contraception in women of reproductive age. In women requesting IA, specific drug abuse counselling should be implemented. Author Affiliation: (a) Legal Medicine, University of Murcia, Spain (b) Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy (c) Paediatric Service, URIE, Hospital del Mar, and Universitat AutA[sup.2]noma, Barcelona, Spain Article History: Received 17 June 2009; Accepted 25 July 2009