Opioid Exposure in Early Pregnancy Linked to Congenital Anomalies
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Exposure to opioid analgesics during the first trimester of pregnancy appears to increase the risk of congenital anomalies diagnosed in the first year of life, researchers report. While the absolute risk of congenital anomalies was low, these findings add to an increasing body of evidence suggesting that prenatal exposure to opioids may confer harm to infants post partum.
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@chandi The researchers retrospectively reviewed administrative health data in a single-payer health care system from 2013 to 2018. They identified parent-infant pair records for all live births and stillbirths that occurred at more than 20 weeks' gestation. The exposure of interest was a prescription for any opioid analgesic with a fill date between the estimated date of conception and less than 14 weeks' gestation. The referent group included any infant not exposed to an opioid analgesic during the index pregnancy period.