A population-based descriptive study of neonatal abstinence syndrome using hospital discharge and birth certificate data

ABSTRACT

Background

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), largely a consequence of prenatal opioid exposure, results in substantial morbidity. Population-based studies of NAS going beyond Medicaid populations and hospital discharge data (HDD) alone are limited. Using statewide Tennessee (TN) HDD and birth certificate (BC) data, we examined trends and evaluated maternal and infant factors associated with NAS.

Methods

We conducted a population-based descriptive study during 2013–2017 in TN. NAS infants were identified with International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9-Clinical Modification (CM) and ICD-10-CM codes in HDD and linked to BC data using iterative deterministic matching algorithms. Descriptive analyses were conducted for infant and maternal factors (exposures) by NAS (outcome). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted ORs and 95% CIs.

Results

NAS incidence increased from 13.4 to 15.4 per 1,000 live births between 2013 and 2017 (15% increase; p_trend<0.001), but remained stable in 2017. In adjusted models, maternal factors associated with reduced odds of NAS included breastfeeding (OR:0.55, 95%CI:0.52–0.59) and prenatal care (OR:0.36, 95%CI:0.32–0.41). Smoking, preterm birth, and lower birthweight were associated with increased odds of NAS.

Conclusions

This study highlights the value of utilizing surveillance data to monitor trends and correlates of NAS to inform prevention efforts and targeting of public health resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Neonatal abstinence syndrome
• epidemiology
• newborn
• retrospective cohort
• birth certificates

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2022.2098841

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention [Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States Program (5 NU17CE002731-02-00)] to the Tennessee Department of Health. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Tennessee Department of Health.