SUNDAY, April 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The number of U.S. infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units to treat symptoms of drug withdrawal has nearly quadrupled since 2004, researchers report.
Neonatal abstinence syndrome -- a drug-withdrawal syndrome that often occurs after exposure to prescription narcotic painkillers during pregnancy -- affected only seven babies for every 1,000 admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in 2004. By 2013, that number had jumped to 27 infants for every 1,000 babies in the NICU, the study revealed.
The Baylor University Medical Center researchers also found that the percentage of days spent in a NICU attributed to drug withdrawal went from 0.6 percent to 4 percent over that decade. And eight neonatal centers reported that more than 20 percent of NICU days were spent caring for these infants in 2013.
The findings were published online April 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with a presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Diego.
Another recent study -- published April 13 in the journal Pediatrics -- found that the use of prescription narcotic painkillers can be startlingly common in pregnancy. The prescription painkillers, also called opioids, include drugs such as hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (Oxycontin), codeine and morphine.
To see more of this article by Tara Haelle see the link: http://consumer.healthday.com/...al-study-698780.html
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