BACKGROUND The prevalence of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is increasing globally resulting in an increased incidence of adverse neonatal outcomes and health system costs. Evidence regarding the effectiveness of NAS prevention and management strategies is very weak and further research initiatives are critically needed to support meta-analysis and clinical practice guidelines. In NAS resea...

Adult diseases cause signifi cant pediatric morbidity. Eleven percent of women of childbearing age are current illicit drug users, and 5% of pregnant women selfreport drug use during pregnancy, which is no doubt an underestimate of the true prevalence. Opiates are the second most common class of abused drugs, after marijuana. Despite the commonly held belief that most opiates are street drugs, ...

AIM To assess the usefulness of cord and serum methadone concentrations at 2 days of age in predicting the severity of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in infants whose mothers received methadone during pregnancy. METHODS After informed consent, infants were enrolled if they were delivered at 35 weeks gestation or greater. Relevant information was collected from maternal notes. A sample of ...

BACKGROUND Abstinence-plus (comprehensive) interventions promote sexual abstinence as the best means of preventing HIV, but also encourage condom use and other safer-sex practices. Some critics of abstinence-plus programs have suggested that promoting safer sex along with abstinence may undermine abstinence messages or confuse program participants; conversely, others have suggested that promoti...

BACKGROUND Despite increased incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) over the past decade, minimal data exist on benefits of parental presence at the bedside on NAS outcomes. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between rates of parental presence and NAS outcomes. METHODS This was a retrospective, single-center cohort study of infants treated pharmacologically for NAS using a roomin...

The increase in opioid use among the general population is reflected in pregnant women and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) statistics. This increase has produced an unprecedented focus on NAS from both the political-judicial sphere and the medical community. Under the banner of fetal protection, judges and prosecutors have implemented punitive approaches against women who use prescribed and ...

Opioid use in pregnant women has increased over the last decade. Following birth, infants with in utero exposure demonstrate signs and symptoms of withdrawal known as the neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Infants express a spectrum of disease, with most requiring the administration of pharmacologic therapy to ensure proper growth and development. Treatment often involves prolonged hospitaliza...

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is the term used to describe the presence of withdrawal symptoms in neonates exposed prenatally to opiates. Much of what is known about NAS is based on the biomedical model of illness. There is less consideration of the social, historical, and political influences on knowledge development about the NAS phenomenon. Social construction presents an alternate fram...

Opioid use in pregnancy has escalated dramatically in recent years, paralleling the epidemic observed in the general population. To combat the opioid epidemic, all health care providers need to take an active role. Pregnancy provides an important opportunity to identify and treat women with substance use disorders. Substance use disorders affect women across all racial and ethnic groups and all...

AIMS Methadone is widely used in maintenance programs for opioid-dependent subjects. The aims of the study were to quantify the distribution and excretion of methadone in human milk during the early postnatal period and to investigate exposure of breast fed infants to the drug. METHODS Blood and milk samples were obtained from 12 breast feeding women who were taking methadone in daily doses r...