Chronic opioid exposure in utero places the infant at risk of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a clinical diagnosis of neurological, autonomic, and/or gastrointestinal withdrawal symptoms from opioid abstinence at birth. The prevalence of NAS is rising concurrently with the recent epidemic of opioid misuse among the general population in the United States, including pregnant women. Opioid misusing women typically receive methadone or buprenorphine as a treatment throughout pregnancy. However, the opioid misuse during pregnancy is associated with higher obstetric complications and a higher incidence of NAS in infants, at times requiring pharmacological intervention. The exact consequences to the human development from opioid exposure in utero remain unclear.
Animal studies suggest that the fetal impacts of opioid exposure may differ from the consequences for an adult who uses opioids. Furthermore, there may be neurodevelopmental alterations in myelin physiology, dendritic length in the brain, and neurotransmitter systems when a child is exposed to opioids in utero. Clinical studies highlight associations between perinatal opioid exposure and gene mutation variants, cranial abnormalities on imaging, and a high prevalence of ocular and visual comorbidities. Ocular and visual comorbidities are of particular interest, because they may be treatable when detected early.
The current literature about NAS infants and ocular and visual comorbidities is limited by the retrospective and small case-control study designs employed by the majority of the research groups. The proposed study design is a prospective study comparing groups of opioid exposed and non-opioid exposed infants born at Boston Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. The ocular and visual comorbidities detected in each group will be quantified, while analyzing the relationship and the relative risk attributable to the infant’s and mother’s demographics. The social context of opioid misuse may complicate the interpretation of the data; however, the design anticipates sufficient recruitment and generalizability as it is conducted at a safety net hospital. Ultimately, the goal of this proposal is to reduce the risk to the fetus with perinatal opioid exposure and build the knowledge base about ocular comorbidities in NAS infants so that optimal and comprehensive care can be provided in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/19422 |
| Date | 05 November 2016 |
| Creators | Park, Han na |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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