(Press-News.org) Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a drug withdrawal syndrome in infants following birth, has historically been associated with illicit drug use among pregnant women.
But a study by a team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center shows that pregnant women are commonly being prescribed opioids -- narcotic pain relievers such as hydrocodone -- which results in an increased likelihood of NAS. In addition, the study found that opioid type and duration of exposure combined with tobacco use or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use (for treating depression and anxiety) augmented risks for NAS.
The study, "Prescription Opioid Epidemic and Infant Outcomes," looked at three years of data from TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program, and assessed records for 112,029 pregnant mothers. An estimated 28 percent of the women, or 31,354, were prescribed and filled at least one opioid pain reliever. Of the babies with NAS, 65 percent had mothers that legally filled prescriptions for opioid pain relievers. Results were published today/April 13 in the journal Pediatrics.
"We found that babies exposed to opioids pain relievers were more likely to be born preterm, have complicated births, low birth weight and have complications such as meconium aspiration syndrome (a sign of infant distress at birth) and respiratory distress," said lead author Stephen Patrick, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy in the Division of Neonatology with the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.
"Not all babies exposed to opioids have drug withdrawal after birth for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Our study found that several things increased an infant's risk, including the duration of opioid use, the type of prescription opioid, how many cigarettes a woman smoked and if they used a common antidepressant medicine called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors."
The study shows that compared to women with no opioid exposure, the pregnant women who took opioid pain relievers were more likely to be white, have anxiety or depression, suffer from headache or migraine and have musculoskeletal disease. A majority of the women prescribed opioids, 96 percent, were prescribed short-acting medications, while 2 percent received maintenance doses and less than 1 percent received long-acting opioids.
"Historically, drug withdrawal for newborns has been described among illicit drug use such as heroin or women treated for previous opioid abuse, but this is really one of the first studies to look at legal prescriptions for pregnant women. And it draws attention to what is going on in our nation," Patrick said.
Nationwide, the amount of prescriptions for opioid drug use has quadrupled. In 2012, an estimated 259 million prescriptions were written for opioid pain relievers in the United States. That's enough for one prescription for every adult in the U.S., Patrick said.
The financial impact is substantial. As a population, every $1 spent on short-acting opioid pain relievers was associated with $50 spent caring for infants with drug withdrawal. National health care expenditures for treating babies with NAS are estimated to be about $720 million a year, according to previous work done by the same researchers.
Tennessee began taking action against overprescribing and doctor shopping for opioids in 2006 when it created a prescription monitoring database, though it was an optional resource for providers and pharmacists. The state strengthened laws in 2013, mandating that providers and pharmacists use the system. Currently 49 states have similar drug monitoring programs. Missouri is the only state without one.
"All in all we hope the study garners the attention of state and federal policy makers to highlight that the prescription opioid epidemic is having a tangible impact on both mothers and infants," Patrick said.
INFORMATION:
Funding for the study was provided by the Tennessee State Department of Health as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant Nos. KL2TR000446, UL1 RR024975-01, and R01AG04347-01A1.
ARGONNE, Ill. - Scientists have developed a new approach that combines ptychographic X-ray imaging and fluorescence microscopy to study the important role trace elements play in biological functions on hydrated cells.
A team of researchers using the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory, demonstrated unparalleled sensitivity for measuring the distribution of trace elements in thicker specimens at cryogenic temperatures, in this case at about 260 degrees below Fahrenheit.
Trace metals are important ...
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When people find out -- usually from a diagnostic scan looking at something else -- that they have a lesion in their pancreas that could morph into pancreatic cancer, they can panic. They insist on having frequent CT scans and biopsies to monitor the lesion, or they ask for surgery. Physicians also don't know if these abnormalities are dangerous, so the patients end up in surgery having part of their pancreas removed. Often the lesion is nothing to worry about.
But a team of international physicians, led by researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in ...
Scientists from the Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), led by Nabil Djouder, have discovered that the MCRS1 protein, in response to an excess of nutrients, induces an increase in the activity of mTOR (the mammalian/mechanistic Target of Rapamycin); a protein that is altered in human diseases such as cancer and diabetes, processes associated with ageing, as well as in certain cardiovascular and neurodegenerative pathologies. The finding, published in the journal Developmental Cell, opens up new possibilities ...
(Washington, D.C.) - According to financial planners, women face unique challenges when preparing to retire. A recent study co-authored by Robin Lumsdaine, Crown Prince of Bahrain Professor of International Finance at American University's Kogod School of Business, reveals retirement-age women who have new grandchildren are 9 percent more likely to retire early than those who do not. The increased probability of early retirement due to the arrival of grandchildren is comparable to the number of women that retire due to worsening health. The decision to retire early has ...
(WASHINGTON - April 13, 2015) - New research published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), reports that children with "bubble boy disease" who undergo gene therapy have fewer infections and hospitalizations than those receiving stem cells from a partially matched donor. The research is the first to compare outcomes among children with the rare immune disorder - also known as X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1) - receiving the two therapeutic approaches.
Children with SCID-X1 are born with a genetic defect that ...
WASHINGTON, April 13, 2015 -- Ever run out of your go-to cleaning product, and you've got a mess that you just can't leave alone? Have no fear, chemistry is here. Reactions is back with another round of our Chemistry Life Hacks series, and this week it's all about cleaning. Learn how to make your own glass cleaner, keep red wine from staining your carpet and why spit, yes spit, can also be a great cleaning product. Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/IpG3VClxO3c.
INFORMATION:Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions ...
The recent increase in popularity of marijuana use coupled with more liberal state-level polices has begun to change the landscape of adolescent marijuana use. More potent forms of marijuana, such as hashish, may present a threat to adolescent health. A wealth of research has been conducted to examine risk factors for teen marijuana use; however, studies rarely differentiate between different forms of marijuana.
A new study by researchers affiliated with New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), was among the first to examine prevalence and correlates ...
Air pollution and smog have health consequences for affected populations ranging from respiratory problems to death. Fine particulate matter especially has become the focus in recent years, because it increases the probability of dying from respiratory or cardiovascular disease. In addition, the risk of stroke is increased, as shown by Barbara Hoffmann and her coauthors in a recent study in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 195-201). In a population of the German Ruhr region, she investigated how often stroke and cardiovascular disease ...
An international team, including researchers at the University of Liverpool, have shown that south east Iceland is underlain by continental crust.
The team found that the accepted theory, that Iceland consists only of very thick oceanic crust, is incorrect. Maps of crustal thickness produced from satellite gravity data, together with geochemical, plate tectonic reconstruction and mantle plume track analysis (an upwelling of abnormally hot rock), were used to show that south east Iceland is underlain by continental crust which extends offshore to the east.
Professor ...
Most recent advances in artificial intelligence -- such as mobile apps that convert speech to text -- are the result of machine learning, in which computers are turned loose on huge data sets to look for patterns.
To make machine-learning applications easier to build, computer scientists have begun developing so-called probabilistic programming languages, which let researchers mix and match machine-learning techniques that have worked well in other contexts. In 2013, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an incubator of cutting-edge technology, launched ...
