Racial differences in opioid withdrawal syndrome among neonates with intrauterine opioid exposure

Comparing maternal substance use and perinatal outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Instead, we encouraged parents and immediate designated family members to visit and stay with the infant as long and as often as their lifestyle allowed [ 11 ]. At the time of the study, institution guidelines utilized the modified Finnegan scoring (mFS) method for evaluation of infants [ 12 ]. There was no change in method of NOWS observation or treatment guidelines during the study period.…”

Conflating Race and Genetics Among Newborns With Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

“…1 Especially concerning is the call for genetic studies to support supposed racial differences. 1,2 Such conclusions may lead to policies and practices that may further reinforce scientific mistreatment for people who clinicians identify as Black. These calls use science to support and build up racism.…”

“…2 In offering this interpretation of study findings, this article also perpetuates racism by offering genetics as an explanation for racial treatment differences among newborns with NOWS. 2 What both of these studies were demonstrating, however, was that there was a racial disparity in the treatment received by newborns with NAS. In associating the findings with a false genetic difference between Black and White newborns, the articles are effectively perpetuating racism.…”

“…We found 2 recent examplesofthisconflationinthepediatricliterature. 1,2 Both of these observational studies examined racial differences in the development and treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), sometimes more specifically called neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS), among Black and White study participants. These studies interpret racialdifferencesintreatmentasreflectinggeneticdifferences betweenBlackandWhitestudyparticipants.Thisinterpretation is fallacious.…”

Words matter

“…Drs Clark and French criticized the article in Pediatric Research 3 for considering treatment received as an accurate measure of the treatment required and for attributing race-based differences in treatment for NOWS to genetics. According to Drs Clark and French, the manuscript “perpetuates racism by offering genetics as an explanation for racial treatment differences among newborns with NOWS”.…”