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. 2020 Dec;56(12):1933-1940.
doi: 10.1111/jpc.15091. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Characteristics and causes of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome

Hannah Uebel  1   2 , Ian M Wright  3   4 , Lucinda Burns  5 , Lisa Hilder  5 , Barbara Bajuk  6 , Courtney Breen  5 , Mohamed E Abdel-Latif  7   8 , Janet Falconer  9 , Sarah Clews  9 , Meredith Ward  1   10 , John Eastwood  1   11   12   13   14 , Ju Lee Oei  1   10   14
Affiliations

Characteristics and causes of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome

Hannah Uebel et al. J Paediatr Child Health. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Aim: To determine characteristics of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

Methods: A population-based linkage study of children from birth to 13 years of age in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, born 1 July 2000 to 31 December 2011. Infants with an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Problems, Australian modification coding of NAS (P96.1, n = 3842) were compared to infants (n = 1 018 421) without NAS by birth, hospitalisation and death records linkage.

Results: Forty-five (1.2%) children with NAS died, compared to 3665 (0.4%) other children. Most deaths (n = 30, 66%) in NAS children occurred between 1 month and 1 year. Risk of death was independently increased in full-term children (hazard ratio 2.34, 95% confidence interval 1.63-3.35; P < 0.001) from lower socio-economic groups (1.23, 1.12-1.35; P < 0.001), most commonly from ill-defined or external causes, including assault and accidents (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Children with NAS, especially those of term gestation and from lower socio-economic groups, are more likely to die, especially from external causes.

Keywords: childhood mortality; linkage; neonatal abstinence syndrome.

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References

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