Optimizing Pregnancy and Treatment Interventions for Moms 2.0

Age adjusted rates for overdose among women in the US increased more than six-fold from 1.4 in 1999 to 8.5 in 2016. Examining Pennsylvania (PA) and Utah (UT; the states where recruitment will happen in this study), these states have some of the highest rates of overdose among women compared to other US states. Specifically, PA's overdose rate among women surpassed the national average in 2016, and rates of overdose death in UT among women have ranged 2-9 times higher than the national rate between 2009 to 2016. Both PA and Utah are among the states with the highest opioid prescribing to pregnant women, with Utah being the highest in the nation (41.6%). Prenatal opioid use disorder (OUD) in the US has brought serious health consequences for mother and infant-including preterm delivery, low birth weight, NAS, and poor breastfeeding, and includes substantial expenditures of health care resources. Chances for HIV (OR=20.3, 95% CI = 13.8-29.7) and hepatitis C virus (OR=150.2. 95% CI = 120.9-186.6) infection among women with OUD are markedly higher than for those without OUD. Pregnant women with OUD have high rates of psychiatric illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, and other substance use disorders (SUDs), with particularly high rates of smoking (>80%). Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), an opioid withdrawal syndrome among neonates, has also increased substantially from 3.4/1000 births in 2009 to 5.8/1000 births in 2012. Poly-substance use among pregnant women with OUD has also been associated with higher levels of needed medications to treat NAS and longer duration of NAS treatment. Smoking combined with opioid use during pregnancy has likewise been related to longer duration of NAS treatment, greater NAS severity, and higher levels of medication needed to treat NAS symptomology. Any prenatal opioid use also has been associated with birth defects, including neural tube defects, conoventricular septal defects, atrioventricular septal defects, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and gastroschisis. Compared with women without any SUDs, children born to mothers with OUD or OUD plus other SUDs also have been documented to have lower cognitive functioning as they mature. Problems resulting from illicit and prescription OUD also result in significant social issues. Pregnant women with OUD have been observed to have financial and housing instability, challenges related to employment, and involvement with the legal system.