Salivary cortisol levels relate to cognitive performance in children prenatally exposed to methadone or buprenorphine

Opioid maintenance therapy (OMT) is generally recommended for pregnant opioid-dependent women. However, much is still unknown about the potential long-term effects of prenatal methadone and buprenorphine exposure. This study explored the long-term effects of prenatal methadone and buprenorphine exposure in a cohort (n = 41) of children, aged 9-11 years, using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) to measure cognitive development and salivary cortisol samples to measure HPA-axis activity. Prenatally exposed children scored significantly lower on all four subtests of WASI (vocabulary, similarities, block design, and matrix reasoning), compared to a comparison group (all p < .05). No group differences were found for salivary cortisol levels or cortisol reactivity levels (all p > .05). Cortisol levels significantly predicted matrix reasoning scores for the OMT group, beta = -65.58, t(20) = 15.70, p = .02. Findings suggest that prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine does not have long-term effects on children's HPA-axis functioning. However, since children of women in OMT scored significantly lower on tasks of cognitive function, careful follow-up throughout the school years and across adolescence is recommended.