As America's opioid epidemic continues to grow and spread, sadly the
number of infants being born addicted to drugs has also continued to
skyrocket. A study that was published in the September edition of the
Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics sought to delve
deeper into the lesser-known consequences of opioid addiction – those
felt by the infants who are born to addicts.
When an infant is
born addicted to a drug, the child experiences what doctors have dubbed,
"neonatal abstinence syndrome," or NAS for short. The babies who are
affected by NAS experience withdrawal symptoms due to being exposed to
addictive substances while they were still in the womb. Some of the
symptoms babies born with this horrible syndrome are forced to endure
include tremors, seizures, excessive crying, poor feeding, fever, sleep
problems, blotchy skin coloring and rapid breathing. Babies born to
opioid addicted mothers can also present with other adverse health effects, such as low birth weight, premature birth, birth defects and small head circumference.
During
the five-year study period, researchers found that the number of
infants being born with NAS more than doubled. Can you believe that?
Live Science reports that when the research began in 2008, the syndrome
occurred in 2.8 births per 1000. By the study's end in 2013, that number
escalated to a shocking 7.3 births per 1000.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that in 2012, over 20,000 babies
were born with NAS – five times what it was in the year 2000. The
agency estimates that approximately every 25 minutes, a baby is born
suffering with the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Babies born with NAS
have to stay in the hospital longer and cost significantly more to care
for than their healthily born counterparts. It is truly a sad thing that
so many babies are born into this world suffering from an addiction that they did not consent to.
This
new study, which was led by researchers from the Institute for
Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy of the Department of Pharmacy
Practice and Sciences, located at the University of Kentucky College of
Pharmacy, did not just solely focus on the total population of the
United States. Because Kentucky is a state that is heavily burdened by
the opioid epidemic,
the researchers also did an in-depth analysis of their state and
compared it to the rest of the population. What the scientists found was
quite alarming. In 2008, when the NAS rate was only 2.8 per 1000 for
the rest of the country, Kentucky was already seeing an alarming 5 cases
per 1000 births. In 2014, that number quadrupled. At the end of the
five year period, the state of Kentucky was seeing 21.2 NAS cases per
1000 births. That means 2 percent of all babies born in the state of
Kentucky are born suffering from opioid withdrawal.
The researchers stated that these findings illustrated the disparate effect drug abuse
has in different states. Kentucky, of course, is not alone in this
disparity. The problem of opioid addiction is national one, but it
affects every state differently.
In an attempt to help combat the
growing number of infants born with NAS, the United States government
passed a "law" entitled the Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015. Of
course, this law merely dictates that the Department of Health and Human
Services must study neonatal abstinence syndrome and develop
recommendations for preventing and treating the condition. As the
researchers noted, this does very little in the short term to actually
assist with what is a rapidly growing epidemic.
Medical marijuana
is an up-and-coming treatment for opioid addiction. It has a great
track record so far, if only the federal government would give us our
right to use it. This natural medicine could help end opioid addiction
entirely, which would in turn reduce the instances of NAS.
Sources:
LiveScience.com
ArchPedi.JAMANetwork.com
DrugAbuse.gov
MedicalDaily.com
Read More..