Big Increase in Babies Born Addicted to Narcotics

There was a 15-fold accrual in the number of newborns experiencing opioid termination in the Canadian province of Ontario in the middle of 1992 and 2011, researchers balance.

Opioids, such as OxyContin, are powerful narcotic painkillers that carry a high risk of abuse and addiction, the psychiatry authors noted.

The incidence of opioid cancellation together with Ontario newborns rose from 0.28 per 1,000 bring to dynamism births to a tiny on peak of 4 per 1,000 following more the psychiatry time, according to the findings published Feb. 11 in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Most of the babies were born to mothers who had been legally prescribed a narcotic pain reliever in the by now and during pregnancy, psychiatry author Dr. Suzanne Turner, a relatives physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, said in a journal news pardon.

As their due date approached, many of those women switched from prescription narcotic painkillers such as codeine or OxyContin to methadone. In Canada, methadone is prescribed harshly speaking exclusively to people addicted to painkillers.

"Our findings suggest that most pregnant women treated subsequent to methadone greater than this era period were addicted to prescription [narcotic painkillers], not illegal drugs such as heroin, which is the common perspicacity," Turner said.

"While the women's indigenous prescriptions for [narcotic painkillers] may have been inappropriate, the fact that many of these women are swine switched to methadone is a suitable business," she said.

Babies born to mothers who occupation narcotic painkillers are more likely to be premature, have low birth weights and have later death rates. But babies born to women who switch from narcotic painkillers to methadone are more likely to be full term and have sophisticated birth weights, the researchers said.

The investigators as well as found that expectant mothers who were prescribed narcotic painkillers within 100 days of delivery were more likely to take in hand by Cesarean section and their babies had longer hospital stays and more outpatient doctor visits.

While opioid termination in newborns is treatable, it can require era in a neonatal intensive care unit, which can insults mom-child bonding, the researchers noted.

All women of childbearing age should be told that any use of narcotic painkillers during pregnancy can cause opioid withdrawal in babies, Turner said.