Pubdate: Wed, 28 Mar 2018
Source: Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
Copyright: 2018 The Morning Call Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/DReo9M8z
Website: http://www.mcall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/275
Author: Binghui Huang

NUMBER OF PENNSYLVANIA INFANTS GOING THROUGH DRUG WITHDRAWAL WAY UP WITH 
OPIOID EPIDEMIC

The number of Pennsylvanian babies born with drug withdrawal symptoms
increased 10-fold in the past decade and a half, a symptom of an
increasingly deadly opioid epidemic plaguing the country, according to
a new state report.

In fiscal year 2017,15 in 1,000 Pennsylvanian newborns were diagnosed
with neonatal abstinence syndrome, a dramatic increase from fiscal
2001 when only 1.2 in 1,000 newborns had the diagnosis, the
Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council said in the report,
which was released Wednesday.

The Lehigh Valley fared better than most parts of the state. The rate
of babies born with withdrawal in the last fiscal year was 4.6 and 8.4
per 1,000 in Lehigh and Northampton counties, respectively. But in
neighboring counties -- Monroe, Carbon and Schuylkill -- the rates are
two to four times higher.

Rural regions of the state are seeing some of the highest rates of
babies born with withdrawal symptoms, said Dr. Amanda Flicker, an
OB/GYN at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome, a reaction to drug withdrawal after
birth, can result in tremors, vomiting, seizures and fever, according
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This brief provides more examples of the alarming impact the opioid
crisis has had on Pennsylvania families -- and, specific to these
findings, babies," council executive director Joe Martin said in a
statement.

Babies with withdrawal symptoms are two to four times more likely to
have complications, such as low birth weight, prematurity, difficulty
feeding and respiratory distress. And their hospital stays are five
times longer than other newborns', totaling $14 million.

White infants were nearly three times more likely to suffer from
withdrawal than black infants. The highest rates of babies born with
withdrawal symptoms were from families earning less than $60,000 a
year, the report said.
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