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Adverse neonatal outcomes associated with maternal severe mental health diagnoses and opioid use

Journal of Perinatology volume 40, pages 1497–1505 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Determine odds ratios for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions for babies born to women associated with severe mental illness (SMI) and gestational opioid use.

Study design

A retrospective pharmacoepidemiologic study using Medicaid data included 17,130 mothers with and 170,430 mothers without SMI, and their babies. Odds ratios for NAS and NICU admissions among babies born to mothers associated with SMI diagnoses and associated with varying degrees of gestational opioid use were determined using logistic regression.

Results

The adjusted odds ratio for a baby in the methadone or buprenorphine group having NAS was 168.93 [95% confidence interval (CI) 148.78–191.71, P < 0.001] and was 9.64 (95% CI 8.74–10.65, P < 0.001) for NICU admissions compared to babies with no opioid exposure.

Conclusions

Chronicity of prescription maternal opioid use was the strongest factor associated with NAS and NICU admissions.

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Code availability

The codes generated during the study are available from the corresponding author on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration for their support.

Funding

This study was funded through a grant from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Medicaid Drug Therapy Management Program for Behavioral Health, Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Jifeng Ma & Vanita Sahasranaman

  2. Strategic Area Lead for Population Health Science, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Russell S. Kirby

  3. Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Timothy Boaz

Authors
  1. Jifeng Ma
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  2. Vanita Sahasranaman
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  3. Russell S. Kirby
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  4. Timothy Boaz
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Contributions

JM designed the study and conducted the analyses. VS was involved in writing and formatting the manuscript. RK and TB provided guidance, feedback for the study design and analyses, and edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jifeng Ma.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Ma, J., Sahasranaman, V., Kirby, R.S. et al. Adverse neonatal outcomes associated with maternal severe mental health diagnoses and opioid use. J Perinatol 40, 1497–1505 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-0759-1

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