{"id":7559,"date":"2021-02-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icesontario.wpengine.com\/news-releases\/one-in-20-babies-born-in-ontario-hospitals-have-prenatal-opioid-exposure-study\/"},"modified":"2023-06-15T07:18:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T11:18:09","slug":"one-in-20-babies-born-in-ontario-hospitals-have-prenatal-opioid-exposure-study","status":"publish","type":"news_release","link":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/news-releases\/one-in-20-babies-born-in-ontario-hospitals-have-prenatal-opioid-exposure-study\/","title":{"rendered":"One in 20 babies born in Ontario hospitals have prenatal opioid exposure: study"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study published in JAMA Network Open<\/em> found that opioid use in pregnancy is common in Ontario, with one in 20 babies from hospital births exposed to opioids in utero, according to researchers at ICES<\/strong>, a non-profit research institute that uses population-based health information to produce knowledge on a broad range of healthcare issues, and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).<\/p>\n

The study included data housed at ICES for over 700,000 hospital births in Ontario from 2014 to 2019. It is one of the most comprehensive Canadian studies to estimate the rate and type of prenatal opioid exposure.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpioid use in pregnancy remains high despite seeing reductions in overall prenatal opioid exposure in Ontario over time. While the long-term implications of exposure on infants is not clear, these findings highlight the need for pre- and post-natal comprehensive care to support both mothers and infants,\u201d says Dr. Astrid Guttmann<\/a>, senior author of the study, chief science officer at ICES, and staff paediatrician and senior associate scientist, Child Health Evaluative Sciences at SickKids.<\/p>\n

The study looked at 701,896 hospital births, of which 37,415 (5.3 per cent) had prenatal opioid exposure. The annual prevalence of prenatal opioid exposure dropped from 6.1 per cent in 2014 to 4.5 per cent in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese declines were largely driven by decreases in opioid analgesic dispensing, particularly among women prescribed opioid analgesics for less than 30 days, which may reflect uptake of more conservative opioid prescribing guidelines,\u201d says Andi Camden, lead author of the study, PhD Candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and student at ICES.<\/p>\n

Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) is an effective treatment for addiction to opioid drugs such as heroin, oxycodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl. The therapy involves taking the opioid agonists methadone or buprenorphine, which prevents withdrawal and reduces cravings for opioids.<\/p>\n

While rates of OAT remained stable overall, differences emerged in the type of therapy used. Increased use of buprenorphine and decreased use of methadone reflect changes in recommended therapy during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

The researchers found the rates of prenatal opioid exposure were highest among younger mothers (20-24 years) and those living in low-income neighbourhoods or rural areas of Ontario. The most common type of opioid exposure was short-term (less than 30 days) prescription opioid analgesics.<\/p>\n

Prenatal opioid exposure was defined as maternal use of opioids and\/or fetal exposure to opioids in pregnancy. The researchers identified prenatal opioid exposure using maternal prescription opioid data during pregnancy, categorized as: analgesics for pain, opioid for cough and OAT for opioid use disorder (methadone or buprenorphine); opioid-related maternal hospital records during pregnancy; newborn hospital records with neonatal abstinence syndrome; and outpatient visits for OAT.<\/p>\n

They attempted to identify illicit opioid use based on:<\/p>\n