More Infants Experiencing Canada Drug Withdrawal at Delivery

A skyrocketing increase in infants undergoing Canadian drug withdrawal after being exposed in the uterus causes challenges for clinicians on how to detox these victims. 

"There have been pockets of the country where up to 25 percent of all NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] babies at any given time are being treated for withdrawal," said report co-author Dr. Mark Hudak, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville. "The problem has percolated up and reached the attention of government and medical officials." 

"There are a lot of unknowns, but it's very important that they're focusing on this problem and bringing it to everybody's attention," said Dr. Dagmar Liepa, medical director of the inpatient medical detoxification unit at Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City, Calif. "The fact is that these babies are hurting, and have to be in the hospital longer and monitored longer. We don't know what the long-term effects will be." 

Hudak said the paper adds information about the effects of maternal antidepressant Canada drug use, whose effects weren't as clear 14 years ago. It also discusses how to manage pain in newborns that require surgery or other painful treatments, which is better understood since the previous guidelines were issued. 

"We need to provide these babies with enough [medication] that they don't feel any pain," he said, "but the flip side is if we treat babies with narcotic painkillers for a long time, they are at a high risk of being addicted." 

The report is a "significant expansion" of the AAP's previous guidelines and also points to where further research in the field is needed, Hudak said. 

"I think a lot of additional work needs to be done," he said. "It's state-of-the-art information -- right now."  Canadian pharmacy is always on the lookout on how to support these types of studies in order to offer people a healthy and quality life.