Pregnant And Addicted To Opioids, Deaths More Than Double: Report

Patch

LONG ISLAND, NY — The opioid crisis has cut a swath of devastation across all demographics — and now, a new study has revealed that even pregnant women have been gripped by the insidious tentacles of addiction, with a sharp uptick in opioid-related deaths.

A new study, the first of its kind, is published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and reflects that the opioid crisis in the United States has "gravely" impacted pregnant and postpartum women, according to a release by Stony Brook University.

The study of pregnancy-associated deaths of women from 2007 to 2016 indicated that mortality involving opioids either during pregnancy or up to one year post-pregnancy more than doubled during that time, according to the study.

Lead author Alison Gemmill, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine and the Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University, said the findings are similar to trends in opioid-related mortality in the general population.

According to the study, the researchers — who used data from 22 states and the District of Columbia — discovered that the increase in opioid-associated deaths was more pronounced in white women compared to non-Hispanic black women, despite black women’s higher risk of pregnancy-associated mortality due to any cause.

The data also suggest that the rise over the 10-year period was driven by increases in deaths due to heroin or synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.

Interventions "are urgently needed" to reverse the concerning trends, according to Gemmill and colleagues.

Locally, experts spoke out on the study: "This data reflects the state of the opioid crisis and while we often focus on the overall death rates, as you drill down into particular populations, we begin to get a fuller picture of what can only be considered a public health disaster," said Jeffrey Reynolds, president and chief executive officer of the Family and Children's Association in Mineola.

The stats also highlight the fact that there is a dire need to be doing more to address the addiction treatment needs of pregnant and parenting women, he said.

"Layered on top of the practical barriers to care is the fear many women have that if they disclose that they are using substances during pregnancy, they will be subject to a child abuse and neglect investigation and possible criminal prosecution," he said. "Postpartum women — who often suffer from depression — carry the same fears and because there are few treatment facilities that accept moms and babies, going into treatment may mean being separated from from your infant. That doesn't serve anyone well and this data should prompt a second look at how we address the needs of pregnant and parenting women," he said.

Added Drew Scott, who lost his granddaughter Hallie Ulrich to a heroin overdose, co-chair of the Southampton Opioid Prevention Task Force and a member of the new Islip Opioid-Heroin Task Force, the study triggers the need for awareness: "This is a very sad and sobering statistic. It proves young women of child-bearing age are just as vulnerable as young men.”

Staggering data

The opioid crisis continues to decimate a generation: More than 72,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2017, according to preliminary estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August. The CDC cautions that the figures are an underestimate because of deaths for which an official cause remains pending.

Analysis by The New York Times says that figure represents a 10 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths compared to 2016. A significant number of the overdose deaths were reported to be caused by fentanyl, with the CDC estimates attributing nearly 30,000 deaths in 2017 to the synthetic opioid. That represents a sharp increase over 2016, when just over 20,000 overdose deaths were reported to be caused by fentanyl.

New life, new hope

Pregnancy can also signal a new life for those battling deadly addiction.

Today, life is bright for 31-year-old Shanna Lintz as the holiday season brings her little girl's 5th birthday in December and gatherings with family and friends. The memories yet to be made mean everything to Lintz, who spent years battling a deadly heroin addiction.

Lintz, who lives in Hicksville, has a story that echoes across Long Island and the United States: She was, she said, raised in a good family with parents who loved her and her three younger sisters. And yet she always struggled with ADHD and anxiety.

She shared her spiral into addiction with Patch in past months.

But after years of struggle, Lintz learned that she was pregnant. Lintz went to meet her father, to tell him the news. When he heard, Lintz said, he said, "Thank God," relieved that his daughter was having a baby, not relapsing, she said.


Her baby, Lintz said, changed everything.

While she was pregnant, her grandmother passed away; losing her grandmother was the thing she'd always feared would send her spiraling back into addiction. But while she was pregnant, she stayed clean, for her baby, and did not use drugs.

"I really felt as though Briella was a gift from God," she said.

She stayed clean for the entire time she breastfed her daughter, Lintz said.

Six months after her daughter Briella was born, however, Lintz said she suffered from postpartum depression and had a weeklong relapse.

"I was shooting up and crying at the same time," she said. "I didn't want to be using but I didn't know how to cope." The drugs, she said, were there, and "I did it."

Her baby, just six months old, was home while she was using heroin, Lintz said.

Ultimately, Lintz found help at a methadone clinic. "Going away for rehab wasn't an option. I had a little baby," she said.

She attributes her deep faith with guiding her toward recovery."Now, I go to church regularly. It's brought me to a place where I'm so happy, mentally and spiritually. I haven't done drugs in three years now and I'm working hard. I've just got to take it slow and be patient."

Lintz added, "My faith, that church, has helped me tremendously." At church, Lintz is involved with Bible study and was baptized.

"I don't even think about going back to using. It's not an option for me," Lintz said. "I feel like I went through everything I did, for a reason."

And now, she's committed to helping others, speaking at places such as a local college.

What she has found, Lintz said, is that not everyone is able to reach recovery via the same path. While some find tools at meetings, she found her inner strength at church and through spirituality.

"That's the problem with the stigma," she said. "Even in the field, everyone says you have to go to meetings. But unfortunately, that doesn't work for everyone. You have to find what works for you and what helps you."

Today, Lintz said she decided not to pursue her career in drug and alcohol counseling. "I was taking care of everyone else, not thinking about myself. I had to put myself first."

Once again, working in a hair salon, Lintz said she's found peace.

Not alone

Lintz's story is one of the many that have emerged as the raging opioid epidemic sweeps the nation, leaving a sea of victims struggling with the scourge of addiction — and it's a scourge that's showing no signs of slowing down.

In 2015, New York's number of opioid overdose deaths was the fifth highest in the country, according to national data that depicts an ongoing battle that claims victims across all socioeconomic and demographic lines.

National numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control give a picture of how New York State compares to other states struggling against the same deadly epidemic.

Most recently, statistics indicated that fentanyl has outpaced heroin as the deadliest drug on Long Island. And in 2015, Suffolk County made headlines as the leader in New York in heroin overdose deaths.

To that end, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has embraced new weapons in the ongoing war against addiction, even creating a new statewide heroin task force in May, 2016.

A new future

Lintz said she has found her new beginning in her daughter's eyes.

"She is a gift from God," Lintz said. "I looked up what her name, Briella means, and it's, 'God is my strength.'"

She added that while she did relapse for that one week after her daughter was born, being pregnant when her grandmother died kept her from a perhaps final spiral downward into the depths of addiction.

Of her daughter, Lintz said simply, "She absolutely saved my life."

For others struggling, who may not have the incredible family support Lintz received, she said: "Keep faith and hope. Don't give up. Life's too short and too precious."

Of her new beginning, Lintz said: "I never dreamt I'd feel this way. Now I'm happy, I'm living life. Life is beautiful and simple, and easy — but sometimes we make it so hard."

RELATED:

Patch courtesy photo.