Toronto, ON, October 8, 2024 – Researchers from the University of Toronto, ICES and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have been awarded $970,000 over three years from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to support a pan-Canadian surveillance system that will monitor perinatal opioid use and treatment and investigate its impact on maternal and child health.
This will be the first and largest federally funded data platform to identify all mother and infant pairs affected by perinatal opioid use and treatment and to monitor their health outcomes and access to care over time.
Perinatal opioid use has become a growing public health concern in Canada, affecting thousands of families each year. Babies exposed to opioids prenatally can be born prematurely and may go on to experience developmental and physical health issues. There are insufficient specialized and interdisciplinary programs for pregnant mothers with opioid use disorder and no standardized approaches to developmental services for their infants and children.
“While there has been appropriate focus on the opioid crisis in Canada, there has been less attention paid to the impact and mitigation of prenatal opioid exposure,” says co-principal investigator Dr. Astrid Guttmann, who is the chief science officer at ICES, a pediatrician and senior scientist at SickKids, and co-Director of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children. “We know from other jurisdictions that surveillance to guide programming within healthcare and public health systems can address important needs of mothers and children. This project is an important first step in a pan-Canadian approach to addressing prenatal opioid exposure.”
The project will link existing opioid prescription records with hospital care, physician outpatient visits, and infant development records across five provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan), and will provide national, provincial and local data on the scope of the issue and its impacts.
The team will use innovative methods that are responsive to evolving public health planning needs, including machine learning, leveraging big data from health and social databases, data visualization techniques, and data linkages.
“What makes this initiative truly powerful is the collaborative nature of the work. Our team will work closely with community members and partner organizations who bring invaluable lived experience and insights,” says co-principal investigator Dr. Andi Camden, a senior research associate at the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children and fellow at ICES. “Together, we’ll co-develop solutions that are grounded in the needs of the people we serve, ensuring that our approach is not only evidence-based but also deeply rooted in community realities.”
“Through this project, we aim to generate data insights that will directly inform the development of tailored programs and services, ensuring they meet the unique needs of mothers, children, families, and communities affected by opioid use,” says co-principal investigator Hilary Brown, adjunct scientist at ICES and associate professor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough. “By taking a targeted approach, we believe we can significantly improve health outcomes to inform more supportive, compassionate care for families across Canada.”
This project is a collaboration with Dr. Tara Gomes (University of Toronto); Dr. Amy Metcalfe (University of Calgary); Dr. Jennifer Hutcheon (University of British Columbia); Drs. Lauren Kelly & Nathan Nickel (University of Manitoba); and Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine (University of Saskatchewan).
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is recognized as one of the world’s foremost paediatric health-care institutions and is Canada’s leading centre dedicated to advancing children’s health through the integration of patient care, research and education. Founded in 1875 and affiliated with the University of Toronto, SickKids is one of Canada’s most research-intensive hospitals and has generated discoveries that have helped children globally. Its mission is to provide the best in complex and specialized family-centred care; pioneer scientific and clinical advancements; share expertise; foster an academic environment that nurtures health-care professionals; and champion an accessible, comprehensive and sustainable child health system. SickKids is a founding member of Kids Health Alliance, a network of partners working to create a high quality, consistent and coordinated approach to paediatric health care that is centred around children, youth and their families. SickKids is proud of its vision for “Healthier Children. A Better World.”
Founded in 1964, the University of Toronto Scarborough is an anchor institution in the eastern Greater Toronto Area. Situated in one of Toronto’s most diverse and multicultural neighbourhoods, the campus fosters a vibrant culture of community engagement. Here, students cross academic and geographic boundaries in their pursuit of knowledge. Experiential learning is one of the hallmarks of our approach to education. We are proud to be part of the University of Toronto, recognized as the most sustainable university in the world and Canada’s top university. U of T has a long history of challenging the impossible and transforming society through the ingenuity and resolve of its faculty, students, alumni and supporters. We are part of one of the top research-intensive universities, bringing together top minds from every conceivable background and discipline to collaborate on the world’s most pressing challenges. Together, we continue to defy gravity by taking on what might seem unattainable today and generating the ideas and talent needed to build a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous future.
Our campus is celebrating its 60th anniversary and 50 years of co-operative education this year.
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ICES is an independent, not-for-profit research and analytics institute that uses population-based health information to produce knowledge on a broad range of healthcare issues. ICES leads cutting-edge studies and analyses evaluating healthcare policy, delivery, and population outcomes. Our knowledge is highly regarded in Canada and abroad and is widely used by government, hospitals, planners, and practitioners to make decisions about healthcare delivery and to develop policy. For the latest ICES news, follow us on X, formerly Twitter: @ICESOntario
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Misty Pratt
Senior Communications Associate, ICES
[email protected] 343-961-6982