Substance abuse during pregnancy is a well-known contributor to serious complications and health risks for both mothers and infants before and after delivery. As part of a larger project designed to assess the effects and cost-efficacies of alternative prenatal and postnatal comprehensive drug abuse treatments and interventions on clinical outcomes at delivery, the authors have collected data from three centers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area that have different approaches to identifying and treating pregnant women who might be substance abusers and their infants.
The records maintained by each program include information on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the women, the extent of their dependence on alcohol or any of several specific drugs (e.g., cocaine, crack, heroin), and the extent of prenatal care and/or problems prior to contact with the program, and clinical outcomes at delivery (including, e.g., gestational age, weight, Apgar scores. The paper will also compare differences in the outcomes at the test sites that might reflect differences between aggressive outreach vs. passive referral approaches and possible differences that this might generate in how early in the pregnancy interventions and treatments are introduced. The paper will conclude by briefly outlining how the project will complete this analysis and extend it to measure and compare the cost-efficacies of the three programs. Implications for policy will also be discussed, particularly in the context of new regulations in, for example, Maryland, which requires a mother delivering a drug-exposed infant to seek treatment, or possibly lose custody of her infant.
Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will be able to recognize and compare differences in the outcomes that might reflect differences between aggressive outreach vs. passive referral approaches, and the implications for when in the pregnancy interventions and treatments are introduced. 2. Participants will discuss implications for policy in the context of new regulations that require a mother delivering a drug-exposed infant to seek treatment, or possibly lose custody of her infant
Keywords: Drug Abuse, Pregnancy Outcomes
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.