Multiple Determinants Other Than Substance Use For Poor Birth Outcomes

"Recent research stresses the multiple determinants of poor birth outcomes, with important factors including maternal poverty, poor nutrition, homelessness, a history of domestic violence, and lack of prenatal care.³ Because it is difficult to untangle the complex causal relationships between maternal drug use and other contributors to poor birth outcomes,²⁴ it is both simplistic and short-sighted to focus solely on drugs as the source of fetal and childhood harm."