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Narcotic Dependency in PregnancyMethadone Maintenance Compared to Use of Street Drugs
Barry Stimmel, MD;
Karlis Adamsons, MD, PhD
JAMA. 1976;235(11):1121-1124.
Abstract
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The course of pregnancy and delivery in 28 women under closely supervised methadone maintenance (group 1) was compared with that of 57 women using heroin or methadone under less controlled circumstances (group 2) and with that of 30 women free of mood-altering medications (group 3). Women in group 1 had the lowest incidence of coexisting medical problems (P=.025), with an incidence of fetal distress not statistically different from that of women in group 3. Infants born to women in group 2 had the highest incidence of fetal distress (P <.05), with four congenital defects, one stillbirth, and one neonatal death. Symptoms characteristic of narcotic withdrawal occurred with similar frequency in group 1 and 2 infants, appearing earlier in children whose mothers were users of heroin.
These findings indicate that maintenance of the pregnant addict under closely supervised methadone therapy is compatible with an uneventful pregnancy and birth of a healthy infant whose withdrawal symptoms in the neonatal period are readily controllable.
(JAMA 235:1121-1124, 1976)
Author Affiliations
From the Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, City University of New York (Dr Stimmel) and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI (Dr Adamsons).
Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 100th St and Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10029 (Dr Stimmel).
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