OPIOIDS: Neonatal abstinence syndrome treatment

The national incidence of NAS [neonatal abstinence syndrome] increased from 3.4 to 5.8 per 1,000 hospital births between 2009 and 2012…”

Babies born to mothers who have taken opiates may experience withdrawal symptoms after they are born.  In Kentucky, care for these newborns is usually provided in the neonatal intensive care unit.  In 2014, a task force was convened to develop a best practice treatment protocol.  This study, done at the University of Louisville Hospital, evaluated this new protocol for babies carried to term, finding a decrease in the number of days that the infants needed morphine therapy and a decrease in the need for adjunctive pharmacologic therapy.  Length of stay was shortened by 9 days and hospital charges were about $27,000 lower per patient.

Source: Devlin, L.A., Lau, T., and Radmacher, P.G. (2017, October 10). Frontiers in Pediatrics. 5(216).  Click here for free full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5641300/pdf/fped-05-00216.pdf