Under the term of "neonatal withdrawal syndrome"This includes a group of problems that occur in a newborn who has been exposed to addictive drugs (illegal or prescribed) while in the mother's womb. Babies of mothers who drink during pregnancy may have a similar condition.
Neonatal withdrawal syndrome occurs due to substances such as amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines (diazepam, clonazepam), cocaine, marijuana and opioids / narcotics (heroin, methadone, codeine). In United States, the number of babies born addicted to painkillers triples in recent years, as evidenced by a recent study.
Specifically, the number of babies born with a drug withdrawal syndrome tripled between 2000 and 2009, jumping to more than 13,000, according to a study that appears in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. .
At the same time, the use of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) in mothers was quintupled, according to the researchers. The figures show that there is a big problem that affects newborns at an alarming and growing rate.
The study's author, Dr. Stephen W. Patrick, a member of the division of neonatal and perinatal medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, notes that the syndrome was more common among babies born in poor areas.
For the study, the researchers observed national data on hospital discharges from 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009. About 16% of pregnant adolescents and 7% of pregnant women aged 18 to 25 years use illicit drugs, according to the information cited in the report. But prescription pain relievers also represent a large part of the problem.
The hospital stay of newborns exposed to drugs lasted an average of 16 days, and the cost increased by 35%. It is sad but that is the reality, when talking about the money that this newborn disorder entails, it is when the authorities can see the need for prevention, even before pregnancy.
But you also have to think about babies, in a treatment that is not fully developed, so that newborns suffer a lot, apart from the fact that they may have sequelae.
Babies suffering from neonatal withdrawal syndrome They tend to be irritable, have a higher muscle tone (hypertonia), tremor, intolerance to be fed, seizures and breathing difficulties. They are also more likely than others to be born with low weight.
