Hair testing applied to the assessment of in utero exposure to drugs: Critical analysis of 51 cases of the University Hospital of Verona.
Drug Test Anal
; 15(9): 980-986, 2023 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37154073
ABSTRACT
The work discusses the results of hair and urine testing performed in 51 cases of suspected in utero drug exposure handled at the University Hospital of Verona from 2016 to 2022. On the day of birth or the day after birth, urine from mother and newborn (UM and UN) and hair from mother (HM), newborn (HN) and father (HF), if possible, were collected. Urine underwent immunoassay and GC-MS analysis, whereas hair underwent LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS analysis. In 50 out of 51 cases, HM and/or HN were available. In 92% of them, hair testing resulted in a positive, often (>50% cases) for more than one class of substance. The most detected substances were cocaine, opiates, methadone and cannabinoids. Maternal segmental analysis showed a prevalent decreasing concentration trend during pregnancy in case of positivity for one class of substances, whereas, as expected, a neatly prevalent increasing trend in the case of positivity for more than one class of substances. In nine cases, HF was also available, resulting in all being positive, usually for the same classes of substances identified in HM, thus questioning parental responsibility. In 33 cases, urine samples from the mother or newborn were also collected. Of them, 27 cases (82%) tested positive, showing peri-partum drug consumption and then confirming the severity of the addiction. Hair testing showed to be a reliable diagnostic tool to investigate in utero drug exposure because of the possibility of obtaining a complete picture of maternal addictive behaviour and family background, thanks to segmental maternal hair analysis and father hair testing.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Cocaína
/
Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias
Limite:
Female
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Humans
/
Newborn
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Pregnancy
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Drug Test Anal
Assunto da revista:
FARMACOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália