Can Maternal Acupuncture for Chemically Dependent Pregnant Women Reduce the Severity of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome? - A Randomized Controlled Trial

Potential study subjects will be recruited from the Chemical Dependency Unit by a trial coordinator. After obtaining written informed consent, the coordinator will take a sequentially numbered opaque envelope from a box on the unit. This envelope will contain a card indicating the treatment group to which the woman is allocated. Women participating in the treatment group of our study will have access to a quiet room furnished with comfortable reclining chairs. The acupuncturist will swab the ears with alcohol and insert sterile, disposable needles. Following the treatment, which is 45-minutes in length, participants will remove the needles themselves and place them in protective sharps boxes. A sham acupuncture procedure will not be used. Chinese traditional medicine does not include the concept of a placebo. Those who argue that auricular acupuncture stimulates the vagus nerve, which innervates the ear concha state that needles placed anywhere in the concha should produce the same effects. 58 Studies utilizing sham procedures have failed to show a difference between the control and active experimental conditions.

In this unit, morphine is prescribed for the neonate by pediatricians (11 in total) if there is a constellation of symptoms unresponsive to environmental control including: 1) convulsions, 2) inconsolability or crying continuously for 3 hours, 3) persistent tremors or jitteriness when undisturbed, 4) continuous central nervous system irritability including hyperactive Moro reflex, tremors, jitteriness, increased muscle tone and unprovoked muscle jerks, 5) persistent vomiting or projectile vomiting over a 12 hour period; or 6) explosive diarrhea for 2-3 consecutive episodes. Additional clinical signs such as tachycardia, tachypnea, watery stools, fever, or weight loss > 10% may justify use of morphine after consideration of differential diagnoses. Morphine 1mg/ml is started at a rate of 0.03 mg/kg/dose every 3 hours. The dose is reviewed daily and titrated based on daily weights and ongoing symptoms.