Tj. Malpas et al., MATERNAL METHADONE DOSAGE AND NEONATAL WITHDRAWAL, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 35(2), 1995, pp. 175-177
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of maternal methadon
e dosage on the severity of neonatal withdrawal. The charts of 67 drug
-abusing mothers and their 70 infants were examined to determine docum
ented patterns of drug usage and the severity of neonatal withdrawal.
Of these, 40 women were on a methadone programme. There was a strong r
elationship between maternal methadone dose at delivery and severity o
f neonatal withdrawal as assessed by the Neonatal Abstinence Score, le
ngth of stay and duration of treatment. Children whose mothers receive
d methadone had mean peak symptom scores greater than 10 whereas the g
roup receiving no methadone had mean scores of less than 4 (p < 0.001)
. These effects tended to increase with increasing doses of methadone.
Length of stay and duration of neonatal treatment showed highly stati
stically significant increases (p < 0.001) with increasing methadone d
ose. Maternal methadone dose appears to be strongly related to the sev
erity of neonatal withdrawal.