Prescription prenatal opioid use drawing increased concern
Aug. 8—A new study by the University of Missouri shows that prenatal opioid use can have serious effects on children later in life.
One of the issues when it comes to opioid use, or other substances, during pregnancy is that women might not immediately realize they are pregnant. The speed at which a baby grows during pregnancy only increases the importance of stopping substance use in those situations, said Dr. Robert Corder with The Center, A Samaritan Center.
"Any time you take a poison, whether it's alcohol or other drugs, it can cause birth defects," he said. "It basically poisons the system. Now, it may not poison the mother's system. You know, babies' cells are actively multiplying a lot faster than moms'. You don't want to interrupt that."
Previous studies have focused on other aspects of using prescription opioids during pregnancy, but little research has been done on how that can be a detriment to children down the road, said Dr. Trupti Joshi, a professor of Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri, who also has practiced medicine in India.
"A lot of studies, generally, up until now have only directly focused on the impact of, you know, if you're having a treatment, in this case oxycodone, whether it's prescribed or it's abused, directly the impact of that on the moms," she said. "The whole idea behind that was to study what is the impact in the long term on the offspring?"
One aspect researched was transgenerational inheritance of drug addiction, or the possibility that children could become dependent on drugs as an inherited behavior.
It's a relevant concern, since the chances of substance abuse increase by more than a third if a child's parents also struggled with addiction, said Teresa Limle, Coordinator of medication-assisted treatment at Family Guidance Center.
"Someone who has a parent who abuses a substance or is addicted to something, then that child is, you know, up to 40% more likely to be addicted to a substance," she said. "So there is a genetic component with that."
"And if that child is born with the drug in their system, then that increases the chances even more," added director Martha Green of FGC's substance use disorder program.
The opioid study had special significance for Professor Cheryl Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine, one of Joshi's partners in the study. Rosenfeld's family had a similar experience after her niece was severely affected by methaqualone withdrawal in the past after Rosenfeld's sister-in-law was prescribed the drug during pregnancy, she said.
Despite having what appeared like a normal childhood, Rosenfeld's niece was developing neurological issues by her teenage years and eventually had to be cared for in a nursing home, Rosenfeld said.
"It's not a future I would want anyone," she said. "Back then it was Quaaludes. Now it's opioids."
Alex Simone can be reached at alex.simone@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter at @NPNOWSimone.
