The Finnegan Score for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Revisited With Routine Electronic Data: Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background The severity of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) may be assessed with the Finnegan score (FS). Since the FS is laborious and subjective, alternative ways of assessment may improve quality of care. Objective In this pilot study, we examined associations between the FS and routine monitoring data obtained from the electronic health record system. Methods The study included 205 neonates with NAS after intrauterine (n=23) or postnatal opioid exposure (n=182). Routine monitoring data were analyzed at 60±10 minutes (t–1) and 120±10 minutes (t–2) before each FS assessment. Within each time period, the mean for each variable was calculated. Readings were also normalized to individual baseline data for each patient and parameter. Mixed effects models were used to assess the effect of different variables. Results Plots of vital parameters against the FS showed heavily scattered data. When controlling for several variables, the best-performing mixed effects model displayed significant effects of individual baseline-controlled mean heart rate (estimate 0.04, 95% CI 0.02‐0.07) and arterial blood pressure (estimate 0.05, 95% CI 0.01‐0.08) at t–1 with a goodness of fit (R2m) of 0.11. Conclusions Routine electronic data can be extracted and analyzed for their correlation with FS data. Mixed effects models show small but significant effects after normalizing vital parameters to individual baselines.