Study: Opioid use disorder treatment improves pregnancy outcomes
Pregnant women living with opioid use disorder (OUD) and their infants had significantly better health outcomes when treated with buprenorphine, according to a new study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.
Pregnant women who received buprenorphine, a medication used to treat OUD, were less likely to have a preterm birth, face serious health complications, or have their infants hospitalized in the NICU compared to those who did not receive the treatment, the study found.
“We know that treatment with medications like buprenorphine substantially reduces the risk of overdose death for pregnant women with opioid use disorder, but its benefits to newborns have not been well understood,” said Stephen Patrick, MD, MPH, senior author and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “We found a profound reduction in preterm birth among infants whose mothers were treated with buprenorphine, which can have a lifelong impact.”
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