Maternal narcotic addiction: pregnancy outcome in patients managed by a specialized drug-dependency antenatal clinic

Abstract

A retrospective analysis has been made of the outcome of pregnancy in 174 women abusing narcotics, managed by a specialist team from a drug-dependency antenatal clinic. These women were cared for through 182 pregnancies of greater than 20 weeks' gestation, resulting in 183 live and 5 stillbirths. The majority of patients were enrolled in a methadone programme and stabilized on the drug before the third trimester. The group was characterized by a high prevalence of previous obstetric and medical problems. The most common antenatal complications were preterm labour (24%) and anaemia (12%). Preterm delivery and small-for-gestational-age each occurred in a quarter of pregnancies. The mean birth-weight for the group was 2,746 g +/- 721 g; mean +/- S.D. Eight perinatal deaths occurred (5 stillbirths, 3 neonatal deaths), giving a perinatal mortality rate of 43/1,000. The data on narcotic abusers have been compared with similar data obtained from randomly selected public antenatal clinic patients who delivered during the same period.