RECENT NATIONAL STUDY indicated that illicit drug use is 16.2% among pregnant teens and 7.4% among pregnant women aged 18 to 25 years. 1 Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome in newborns following birth. The syndrome most commonly occurs in the context of antepartum opiate use, although other drugs have also been implicated. [2][3][4][5] In addition to NAS, illicit drug use (specifically opioid dependence) during pregnancy is associated with a significantly increased risk of adverse neonatal outcomes such as low birthweight (Ͻ2500 g) and mortality. [6][7][8][9] Neonatal abstinence syndrome is characterized by a wide array of signs and symptoms including increased irritability, hypertonia, tremors, feeding intolerance, emesis, watery stools, seizures, and respiratory distress. 10 Symptoms of withdrawal associated with NAS have been described in 60% to 80% of newborns exposed to heroin or methadone in utero. 11 Recently, analyses from Australia 12 and the Florida Medicaid program (D. Aronberg, JD, written communication, November 30, 2011) found that the incidence of NAS has been increasing. To date, there are no national es-Author Affiliations are listed at the end of this article.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the reported prevalence and trend of maternal hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the United States (2009–2017) and identify maternal characteristics and obstetric outcomes associated with HCV infection during pregnancy. METHODS: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of all live births in the United States for the period 2009 through 2017 using National Center for Health Statistics birth records. We estimated reported prevalence and trends over this time period for the United States. We also evaluated demographic factors and pregnancy outcomes associated with maternal HCV infection for a contemporary U.S. cohort (2014–2017). RESULTS: During the 9-year study period, there were 94,824 reported cases of maternal HCV infection among 31,207,898 (0.30%) live births in the United States. The rate of maternal HCV infection increased from 1.8 cases per 1,000 live births to 4.7 cases per 1,000 live births (relative risk [RR] 2.7, 95% CI 2.6–2.8) in the United States. After adjusting for various confounders in the contemporary U.S. cohort (2014–2017), demographic characteristics associated with HCV infection included non-Hispanic white race (adjusted RR 2.8, 95% CI 2.7–2.8), Medicaid insurance (adjusted RR 3.3, CI 3.2–3.3), and cigarette smoking (adjusted RR 11.1, CI 10.9–11.3). Co-infection during pregnancy with hepatitis B (adjusted RR 19.2, CI 18.1–20.3), gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis were also associated with maternal HCV infection. Obstetric and neonatal outcomes associated with maternal HCV infection included cesarean delivery, preterm birth, maternal intensive care unit admission, blood transfusion, having small-for-gestational-age neonates (less than the 10th percentile) birth weight, neonatal intensive care unit admission, need for assisted neonatal ventilation, and neonatal death. CONCLUSION: The reported prevalence of maternal HCV infection has increased 161% from 2009 to 2017.

The objective was to compare diagnosis rates representing developmental outcomes and medical complications between infants with intrauterine opioid exposures who did not receive pharmacologic treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome at the time of birth and infants for whom no exposure to substances of abuse were detected. This retrospective, descriptive study included approximately 95% of Hamilton County, Ohio resident births in 2014 and 2015. Universal maternal drug test results, performed at the time of birth, were documented and linked to electronic health records representing pediatric primary and subspecialty follow-up care as well as urgent care, emergency care, and inpatient services provided by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center through 2017, when all children were at least 24 months old. Diagnosis rates were compared between drug exposure groups using chi-square tests. Among infants born at >34 weeks gestation and without other complex clinical conditions, infants with subclinical opioid exposures (N = 473) were more likely than infants with no drug exposures (N = 14,933) to be diagnosed with behavioral or emotional disorders (3.0% vs 1.1%, P = 0.0008), developmental delay (15.6% vs 7.6%, P < 0.0001), speech disorder (10.1% vs 6.5%, P = 0.001), or strabismus (3.4% vs 1.0%, P < 0.0001), and more likely to be exposed to the hepatitis C virus (6.8% vs 0.1%, P < 0.0001). Increased diagnosis rates among all opioid exposed infants, regardless of withdrawal severity, may warrant the additional allocation of resources for screening and follow-up. Awareness of the increased risk for certain developmental delays and medical conditions is critical to early intervention and treatment supporting improved outcomes.