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The Effects of Legal and Illegal Drugs on Placental Function

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The Placenta

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Abstract

For most pregnant women, pregnancy is a special phase of life in which they responsibly decide to do everything possible to ensure the optimal development of the unborn child, especially by stopping smoking and drinking alcohol or abstaining from drug use. For the vast majority, any drug use is obsolete, but for an unfortunately not diminishing minority, this is not the case. Reliable German data do not exist, for the USA a constant figure of 5.9% pregnant women with illegal drug use is reported. Prenatal drug exposure carries a variety of risks for mother and child, which can lead to obstetric and neonatal complications. The most common problems arise because of disturbances in placental function: fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, prematurity, and premature rupture of the membranes to premature placental abruption and intrauterine fetal death. This chapter describes the placenta-associated effects of the major licit and illicit drugs and possible pathomechanisms in the placenta.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Ambulatory Medicine I, University Clinic Jena, Eisenberg, Germany

    Justine Fitzgerald

  2. Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany

    Ekkehard Schleußner

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  1. Justine Fitzgerald
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  2. Ekkehard Schleußner
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cell Biology Histology and Embryology, Gottfried Schatz Research Center, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Berthold Huppertz

  2. Klinik für Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe, Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, Germany

    Ekkehard Schleußner

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Fitzgerald, J., Schleußner, E. (2023). The Effects of Legal and Illegal Drugs on Placental Function. In: Huppertz, B., Schleußner, E. (eds) The Placenta. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66256-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66256-4_7

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-66256-4

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