MATERNAL METHADONE DOSAGE AND NEONATAL WITHDRAWAL

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.