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Neonatal abstinence syndrome: Neurobehavior at 6 weeks of age in infants with or without pharmacological treatment for withdrawal
Author(s) -
Heller Nicole A.,
Logan Beth A.,
Morrison Deborah G.,
Paul Jonathan A.,
Brown Mark S.,
Hayes Marie J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21532
Subject(s) - methadone , abstinence , medicine , concomitant , medical prescription , pediatrics , psychology , anesthesia , psychiatry , pharmacology
Use and abuse of prescription opioids and concomitant increase in Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition that may lead to protracted pharmacological treatment in more than 60% of infants, has tripled since 2000. This study assessed neurobehavioral development using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale in 6‐week old infants with prenatal methadone exposure who did (NAS+; n = 23) or did not (NAS−; n = 16) require pharmacological treatment for NAS severity determined by Finnegan Scale. An unexposed, demographically similar group of infants matched for age served as comparison (COMP; n = 21). NAS+, but not NAS− group, had significantly lower scores on the regulation ( p < .01) and quality of movement ( p < .01) summary scales than the COMP group. The NAS+ and NAS− groups had higher scores on the stress‐abstinence scale than the COMP group ( p < .05). NAS diagnosis (NAS +) was associated with poorer regulation and quality of movement at 6 weeks of age compared to infants without prenatal methadone exposure from the same demographic.