Maternal Drug Abuse Linked To Unhealthy Babies

 

A recent study shows that mothers who use substances or abuse drugs are likely to bear kids who are low in weight and have a wide variety of medical complications. In addition to this kids may have higher risk of getting long-term complications and event risk of mortality this is according to their studies that were published in the journal of The Pediatrics.

There is a growing concern about drug addictions as well as associated neonatal outcomes. The ability to monitor and comprehend the details of major public health issues has been further much limited due to lack of data systems. This settlement is according to Sunnah Hwang neonatology expert at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

The Research about Substance Abuse among Pregnant Women

Until now, epidemiological research about maternal abuse and impact outcome has been based on longitudinal analysis of the outcomes from mothers and infants. In addition to this, their indication of the use of maternal substances and maternal substances abuse disorders have been limited. If the researchers used current data the analysis maybe accurate, the problem is that most researchers tend to rely on the previous records which may not be accurate.

To determine the connection between substance abuse in mothers and the disorders on their infants, the researchers conducted a study in which the data was collected between the year 2002 and 2010. The researchers used generalized estimating equation.

During the year 2009, the rate of maternal abuse disorders increased by 19.4% to that 31.1% per every 1000 live births. Infants whose mother abused substance had a greater risk of preterm birth. In addition to this, those infants who were exposed to excessive maternal substance abuse were most likely to experience restricted growth. In addition to addition to this, they also risked getting conditions such as cardiac respiratory, neurologic, hematologic, infectious and feeding concerns.

What Are The Consequences?

Further information revealed that there was an increased risk of a prolonged stay in the hospital as well as higher mortality rate. It was also noted that within the first year neonates were not likely to overstay in the hospital and they were unlikely to use ED care.

It was noted that infants who are born of mothers with substance abuse were at higher risk of getting diverse adverse neonatal infections compared to a mother who never abused substances.

Recommendations from the Research

It is important to give intense counseling to mothers who are pregnant about these risks. Due to the recent legalization of medical marijuana, and the increased opioid prescription in the United States, mothers may not be receiving enough messages about the risks of the prenatal exposure to their infants.

Also due to the increased use of drug substances among youths, health providers may fail to screen all the mothers and the degree of information about the exposure and potential prenatal risks are low or unknown.