Grant: Op Grant: Data Analysis - Reproductive, Maternal, Child and Youth Health

Exposure to opioids during pregnancy can have negative effects on baby's development, including preterm birth, slow fetal growth, and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Neonatal abstinence syndrome is a drug withdrawal syndrome occurring shortly after birth and affecting baby's sleep, feeding and nervous system function. Our previous research showed that neonatal abstinence syndrome increased in Canada from 2.0 to 5.1 per 1000 live births between 2005 and 2015, and that the affected babies have high occurrence of severe neonatal morbidity. Data from Ontario suggest a 16-fold increase in mothers affected by opioid dependence between 2002 and 2014, with the hospital cost rising from $724,774 to $10,539,988 per year. However, very little is known about long-term effects of neonatal abstinence syndrome on childhood health and development. Our first objective is to examine health trajectories among children born with neonatal abstinence syndrome in British Columbia between 2001/02 and 2017/18 in a follow-up period of up to 18 years. Secondly, we will assess developmental vulnerability among these children and thirdly, we will look at potential differences in these outcomes and risk factors between boys and girls. We will utilize data on all births from the BC Perinatal Database Registry including information on pregnancy and childbirth complications and other clinical and demographic characteristics. Follow-up data will be obtained from children's hospitalization records and developmental assessments in kindergarten, which can be linked to the Perinatal Database. Any information that could potentially identify individual children will not be released for confidentiality reasons. In the light of the ongoing opioid crisis, our goal is to provide information on determinants of early childhood morbidity and developmental vulnerability among children born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Our results will help to create optimal targets for harm reduction and prevention.