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| Newborns showing withdrawal symptoms often require treatment to wean them off the drug |
The number
of babies born in the US showing symptoms of opiate withdrawal increased
threefold in the 10 years up to 2009, a medical study has found.
The
research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said
one in every 1,000 newborns was affected in 2009.
The number
of pregnant women testing positive for illegal or legal opiates increased
fivefold in the same period.
The report
says abuse of prescription painkillers is partly to blame.
The study,
the first of its kind in the US, was based on records from more than 4,000
hospitals across the country.
It found
that in 2009, about 13,500 babies were born with withdrawal symptoms - roughly
one every hour.
Not all
babies born to women who used opiates during pregnancy showed the symptoms, the
report said.
But those
that did were often born earlier and smaller, suffered seizures, restlessness,
breathing problems or difficulty feeding and often required treatment with the
opiate-replacement drug methadone to help wean them off their dependency.
"They
appear uncomfortable, sometimes they breathe a little faster. They're
scratching their faces," said Dr Stephen Patrick of the University of
Michigan, who worked on the study.
The babies
were kept in hospital for an average of 16 days, compared to three for healthy
babies.
As most
were born to mothers who were entitled to financial help with their medical
costs, the study said this was placing a serious burden on health budgets.
The
researchers said many pregnant women were legitimately taking pain-relieving
opiates on prescription, but warned that more must be done to find ways of
protecting unborn babies from powerful drugs.
Dr Patrick
said the findings were "part of a bigger call to the fact that opiates are
becoming a big problem in this country".
An editorial in the journal accompanying the study said that while such opiate
medications provide "superior pain control" they have been
"overprescribed, diverted and sold illegally, creating a new opiate
addiction pathway and a public health burden for maternal and child
health".
In 2011,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that painkiller
abuse in the US had reached "epidemic proportions".
It said
overdoses of pain relievers cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
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