A Unique Opportunity to Study Short- and Long-Term Consequences in Children Prenatally Exposed to Illicit Drugs and Opioid Maintenance Treatment Using Czech and Scandinavian Registers

Abstract

SUMMARYLicit and illicit drug use in pregnant women constitutes a long lasting and serious problem worldwide. Information on long-term effects of maternal drug use on the child is limited. Nationwide registers provide a great potential to study short-and long-term consequences for children exposed to licit and illicit drugs during pregnancy. We discuss this potential, with a special emphasis on exposure to methamphetamine, heroin and prescription drugs used for opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). We also discuss the advantages of analysis using register data and of merging such data from different regions. The Czech and Scandinavian registers are largely comparable and provide great opportunities to conduct innovative research. For instance, using Czech and Scandinavian cohorts we can compare groups with similar characteristics, such as mothers in OMT and mothers addicted to other drugs while also controlling for important confounding factors such as health and socioeconomic status.

Neonatal outcomes after fetal exposure to methadone and buprenorphine: national registry studies from the Czech Republic and Norway

“…Further, the size of the sample is a strength of our study 19, as the majority of previous studies on neonatal outcomes included small samples. The two cohorts represent different parts of Europe and are heterogeneous, which may increase the generalizability of the results.…”

“…In contrast to most countries, both the Czech Republic and Norway have nation‐wide health registries that use personalized identification number for all citizens; this makes linkage of registry data on individual and family levels possible 19. Employing registry data allows us to study large unselected populations of pregnant OMT women from countries with different socio‐economic and treatment settings.…”

Prenatal exposure to opioid maintenance treatment and neonatal outcomes: Nationwide registry studies from the Czech Republic and Norway

“…In the Czech Republic, women with at least one diagnosis indicating drug dependence during pregnancy constituted the comparison group, while women who gave birth to a newborn with NAS comprised the comparison group in Norway. This difference combined with different treatment settings can increase the generalizability of the findings. Nevertheless, the difference between the comparisons groups might have resulted in heavier opioid users constituting the comparison group in Norway, explaining the more positive effects of OMT in Norway than in the Czech Republic.…”

“…This difference combined with different treatment settings 23 can increase the generalizability of the findings. Nevertheless, the difference between the comparisons groups might have resulted in heavier opioid users constituting the comparison group in Norway, explaining the more positive effects of OMT in Norway than in the Czech Republic.…”

“…This enables linkages of data between different registries on an individual level, and on family levels such as between mother and child. A more detailed description of the data sources is provided elsewhere …”