Association between pharmacologic treatment and hospital utilization at birth among neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome mother-infant dyads

Objective We linked mother-baby dyads to explore associations between maternal medication-assisted therapy (MAT) and infants’ pharmacologic treatment on birth hospital utilization for infants with NOWS. Methods We extracted singleton infant and maternal delivery discharges from PHIS hospitals with large volumes of deliveries for 2016–2019. We matched newborns with NOWS to maternal delivery discharges by hospital, day of birth, mode of delivery, and ZIP code. We examined the association between maternal MAT, infants’ pharmacologic treatment, and hospital utilization at birth. Results We included N = 146 mother-baby dyads from six hospitals (74% match rate). Among matched dyads, 51% received maternal MAT, 60% pharmacotherapy (37% both). Infants treated non-pharmacologically and born to mothers receiving MAT had the shortest stays vs. infants without pharmacotherapy or MAT (RR = 0.29; 95% CI: 0.25–0.35). Conclusions These findings underscore the importance of adequate perinatal treatment for opioid use disorder to improve outcomes for mothers and infants with opioid exposure.