Fetal exposure to cocaine and infections during the first 18 months of life in infants from a Mediterranean city.

AIM: The incidence of infections during the first 18 months of life was investigated in 36 infants prenatally exposed to cocaine and in 72 non-exposed controls from Barcelona, Spain. METHODS: Fetal exposure to cocaine was ascertained by meconium analysis, infections by structured questionnaire. RESULTS: A higher incidence of infections, if excluding those acquired in utero, was not found in exposed infants versus non-exposed infants of similar demographical and socioeconomic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: A possible role for life style factor in those cases where increased infections are associated with fetal exposure to cocaine is hypothesized.