Neonatal Opioid Dependence Spikes 7X In 9 Years In Rural Areas, 4X In Cities - NYT

[hatrack]

As the opioid epidemic sweeps through rural America, an ever-greater number of drug-dependent newborns are straining hospital neonatal units and draining precious medical resources.

The problem has grown more quickly than realized and shows no signs of abating, researchers reported on Monday. Their study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, concludes for the first time that the increase in drug-dependent newborns has been disproportionately larger in rural areas.

The rising rates are due largely to widening use of opioids among pregnant women, the researchers found. From 2004 to 2013, the proportion of newborns born dependent on drugs increased nearly sevenfold in hospitals in rural counties, to 7.5 per 1,000 from 1.2 per 1,000. By contrast, the uptick among urban infants was nearly fourfold, to 4.8 per 1,000 from 1.4 per 1,000.

“The problem is accelerating in rural areas to a greater degree than in urban areas,” said Dr. Veeral Tolia, a neonatologist who works at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and was not involved in the new report. Other recent studies have underscored the breadth of the problem. The hospital costs associated with treating addicted newborns rose to $1.5 billion in 2013, from $732 million in 2009, according to a study in the Journal of Perinatology. Some neonatal intensive care units, called NICUs, now devote 10 percent of their hours to caring for infants who have withdrawal symptoms.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/health/rise-in-infant-drug-dependence-in-us-is-felt-most-in-rural-areas.html?_r=0

[Ilsa]

1. A relative was dependent while pregnant.

Her OB did everything possible to help her get help, but instead, she lied, created fake documents from an outpatient rehab center. Opiates were only part of her addiction.

The fetus was in trouble around month 6. She delivered early, less than 4 pound baby. The preemie actually coded on the way to a Level 3 nicu/pediatric hospital, and was resuscitated, but spend a month in the hospital. She's okay, for now, is several years old.

The mother never bonded with her. After going home, the mother would leave the tiny baby with her 65 year old grandmother who was getting chemotherapy, and go out and disappear all day until around 5pm.

A year later, the mother was almost on her deathbed herself, suffering nasty side effects of the addiction.

She isn't using anymore, we think, but she hasn't done rehab. The daddy made sure she didn't get custody, and visitation is supervised, but she never sees her kids.