Brain morphology in school-aged children with prenatal opioid exposure: A structural MRI study

Background: Both animal and human studies have suggested that prenatal opioid exposure may be detrimental to the developing fetal brain. However, results are somewhat conflicting. Structural brain changes in children with prenatal opioid exposure have been reported in a few studies, and such changes may contribute to neuropsychological impairments observed in exposed children.

Aim: To investigate the association between prenatal opioid exposure and brain morphology in school-aged children.

Study design: A cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of prenatally opioid-exposed children and matched controls.

Subjects: A hospital-based sample (n=16) of children aged 10-14years with prenatal exposure to opioids and 1:1 sex- and age-matched unexposed controls.

Outcome measures: Automated brain volume measures obtained from T1-weighted MRI scans using FreeSurfer.

Results: Volumes of the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellar white matter were reduced in the opioid-exposed group, whereas there were no statistically significant differences in global brain measures (total brain, cerebral cortex, and cerebral white matter volumes).

Conclusions: In line with the limited findings reported in the literature to date, our study showed an association between prenatal opioid exposure and reduced regional brain volumes. Adverse effects of opioids on the developing fetal brain may explain this association. However, further research is needed to explore the causal nature and functional consequences of these findings.