Abstract

Substance use is most prevalent in reproductive-aged people also by women during pregnancy. In national prevalence surveys among women aged 15 to 44 years, 10.8 % of women reported using alcohol during pregnancy, 17 % reported smoking during pregnancy, and 4.4 % reported abusing any illicit substances during pregnancy. Virtually all illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, pose dangers to a pregnant woman. Legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, are also dangerous, and even medical drugs,both prescription and over-the-counter, can be harmful. The use of alcohol, tobacco smoke ornarcotics by pregnant women can result in significant maternal, fetal, and neonatal morbidity.For example, smoking during pregnancy appears to raise the risk of miscarriage or prematurelabor. But the primary danger is hindered fetal growth.Heavy narcotics use increases the danger of premature birth with such accompanying problemsfor the infant as low birthweight, breathing difficulties, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), andbleeding within the head (intracranial hemorrhage). The babies of narcotics-dependentmothers are often born dependent themselves and suffer withdrawal symptoms, such asirritability, vomiting and diarrhea, and joint stiffness.It is well known that alcohol, tobacco as well as narcotics are complex of many chemicalcompounds, which sometimes are harmful to human health. Therefore, is such an important tomonitor levels of substances characteristic of these stimulants, i.e., "biomarkers". Thebiomonitoring of toxic substances involves the analysis of biological materials taken fromhuman subjects (e.g. urine, saliva, placenta, blood) for the presence of selected biomarkers.This article presents information on sample preparation techniques and analyticalmethodologies applicable in the analysis of biological materials for the presence of biomarkerspresent in samples of biological material taken from pregnant woman using tobacco smoke ordrugs of abused during pregnancy.

Authors (2)