Prescription drug monitoring programs and neonatal outcomes

Over the last two decades, the number of delivering mothers using or dependent on opiates has increased dramatically, giving rise to a five-fold increase in the proportion of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). First, the current study documents NAS trends in the United States and t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Regional science and urban economics 2020-03, Vol.81, p.103497, Article 103497
Main Authors: Gihleb, Rania, Giuntella, Osea, Zhang, Ning
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Babies
Birth weight
Childbirth & labor
Drug abuse
Health policy
Infant mortality
Infant outcomes
Infants
Mothers
Narcotics
Neonatal abstinence syndrome
Opiates
Opioid crisis
Pregnancy
Pregnancy complications
Premature babies
Premature birth
Prescription drugs
United States
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Summary:Over the last two decades, the number of delivering mothers using or dependent on opiates has increased dramatically, giving rise to a five-fold increase in the proportion of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). First, the current study documents NAS trends in the United States and their substantial variation across states. Second, it explores the relationship, if any, between the adoption of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) and reductions in NAS incidence across the United States. We find that the introduction of operational PDMPs reduced NAS incidence in the United States by 10%. We also examined the effects on birth outcomes, infant mortality, and other pregnancy complications and find little evidence of any effect of PDMPs on birth weight, premature births, and infant mortality. •The number of delivering mothers using or dependent on opiates has increased dramatically.•First, the current study documents NAS trends in the United States and their substantial variation across states.•We find that the introduction of operational PDMPs reduced NAS incidence in the United States by 10%.•We also examined the effects on birth outcomes, infant mortality, and other pregnancy complications and find little evidence of any effect of PDMPs on birth weight, premature births, and infant mortality.
ISSN:0166-0462
1879-2308
DOI:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2019.103497