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Opioid Use Disorder and Infant Health Outcomes: A Literature Review

Introduction and background
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is an epidemic in the U.S. OUD affects both the mother’s and infant’s health. Substance-exposed infants suffer from decreased health outcomes relative to non-exposed infants.
Purpose
The aim is to identify infant health outcomes when pregnant women are prescribed medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for OUD. Among pregnant women with OUD in the U.S., is medication-assisted therapy as compared to no therapy associated with decreased negative infant health outcomes?
Literature review
Five studies on OUD and infant outcomes in the U.S. were reviewed. CINAHL and PubMed were searched using terms opioid use disorder, pregnancy, and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The search was limited to the last five years and full text only. Of the 815 results, five articles were selected that focused on infant outcomes and prevention of NAS. Articles were excluded if the focus was solely on the maternal outcomes, cost, or unoriginal research. One meta-analysis was included that compared two types of MAT for pregnant women with OUD.
Findings
MAT is correlated with a shorter hospital stay and less severe NAS symptoms in infants.
Conclusion and implications
Rates of NAS and OUD have increased significantly in the US. Some of the increase may be attributed to the transition to ICD-10 codes. MAT for pregnant women with OUD is associated with better health outcomes for infants. Patient-centered care could help decrease negative health outcomes for both infants and women with OUD. Future study should focus on degrees of opioid exposure and related outcomes.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:es-conf-1062
Date14 April 2022
CreatorsRussell-Fritch, Shayln
PublisherDigital Commons @ East Tennessee State University
Source SetsEast Tennessee State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceEpsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

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