Findings from University of Rhode Island Reveals New Findings on Prescription Opioids (Maternal Complications and Prescription Opioid Exposure During Pregnancy: Using Marginal Structural Models): Opioids – Prescription Opioids

2021 OCT 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Opioids - Prescription Opioids. According to news originating from Kingston, Rhode Island, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Prescription opioids are frequently used for pain management in pregnancy. Studies examining perinatal complications in mothers who received prescription opioids during pregnancy are still limited.”

Financial support for this research came from National Institute of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD).

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Rhode Island, “The aim of this study was to assess the association of prescription opioid use and maternal pregnancy and obstetric complications. This retrospective cohort study with the Rhode Island (RI) Medicaid claims data linked to vital statistics throughout 2008-2015 included pregnant women aged 12-55 years with one or multiple live births. Women were excluded if they had cancer, opioid use disorder, or opioid dispensing prior to but not during pregnancy. Main outcomes included adverse pregnancy and obstetric complications. Marginal Structural Cox Models with time-varying exposure and covariates were applied to control for baseline and time-varying covariates. Analyses were conducted for outcomes that occurred 1 week after opioid exposure (primary) or within the same week as exposure (secondary). Sensitivity studies were conducted to assess the effects of different doses and individual opioids. Of 9823 eligible mothers, 545 (5.5%) filled one or more prescription opioid during pregnancy. Compared with those unexposed, no significant risk was observed in primary analyses, while in secondary analyses opioid-exposed mothers were associated with an increased risk of cesarean antepartum depression (HR 3.19; 95% CI 1.22-8.33), and cardiac events (HR 9.44; 95% CI 1.19-74.83). In sensitivity analyses, results are more prominent in high dose exposure and are consistent for individual opioids.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Prescription opioid use during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of maternal complications.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Maternal Complications and Prescription Opioid Exposure During Pregnancy: Using Marginal Structural Models. Drug Safety, 2021. Drug Safety can be contacted at: Adis Int Ltd, 5 The Warehouse Way, Northcote 0627, Auckland, New Zealand.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Xuerong Wen, University of Rhode Island, College of Pharmacy, Hlth Outcomes Pharm Practice, Kingston, RI 02881, United States. Additional authors for this research include Shuang Wang, Adam K. Lewkowitz, Erin Christine Brousseau, Kristina E. Ward and Kimford J. Meador.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-021-01115-6. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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