Buprenorphine Use, Methadone Dose Affect Neonatal Outcomes
Buprenorphine Use, Methadone Dose Affect Neonatal Outcomes
SAN DIEGO, California ― For infants of mothers who were treated for opioid use disorder with buprenorphine, rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) were found to be lower compared to infants whose mothers were treated with methadone, new research shows. In addition, use of methadone at doses higher than 50 mg was associated with a significantly higher risk for NAS.
(...) However, Matthew R. Grossman, MD, a senior author of that study, who is assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut, said he has not observed differences associated with the dose of methadone, as reported in the current study.
"If [infants] are exposed to an opioid, particularly methadone, my experience with more than 500 of these infants is that they will all have withdrawal symptoms, regardless of the dose." (Medscape, 18.12.2017)