Investigating neurodevelopmental outcomes following opioid exposures in pregnancy

Canada and the USA have seen a dramatic increase in the use of opioids. Opioids are drugs (such as morphine or fentanyl) that are prescribed for pain or are available as street drugs (such as heroin). The use of prescription opioids has also increased in pregnant women. In Manitoba, it is estimated that almost 8% of pregnant women were prescribed opioids during pregnancy. The total number of women taking opioids in pregnancy is unknown as people may choose not to report use of opioids prescribed to others or illegal opioids. When babies are exposed to opioids throughout pregnancy, they can develop a withdrawal syndrome at birth. Canada has seen a 27% increase in the number of babies with withdrawal from 2012 to 2016. The long-term health effects following opioid exposure in pregnancy have not been well-studied. There are many social, environmental and health related variables that make this population difficult to study long-term, such as income, education and diseases. Using health administrative data presents a potential solution to being able to look at these variables and determine what health effects are associated with opioid exposure in pregnancy. We plan to link data from doctor’s appointments, drug prescriptions and hospital care to look at the long-term health effects of children who were exposed as babies to opioids during pregnancy. We will compare the health effects in babies that developed opioid withdrawal with similar babies whose mothers were not prescribed opioids during pregnancy. This information will be helpful for families and healthcare providers for counseling women who are using opioids during pregnancy. This data linkage project will also be helpful to answer other research questions including which treatments for mothers result in less withdrawal and which treatments for babies keep them in hospital for less time.