Objective: We determined the effect of preterm delivery on the course of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in infants born to mothers participating in a methadone maintenance program.
Study design: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in which infant and maternal data were collected from the medical records of 53 preterm and 66 term infants. Infants were selected from all infants admitted to Thomas Jefferson University hospital born between 1998 and 2002 whose mothers were enrolled in the methadone maintenance program. All infants were managed by a standard protocol utilizing the Neonatal Abstinence Scoring System (NASS) and neonatal opiate solution (NOS). Preterm and term infants were compared.
Results: Preterm infants had shorter lengths of stay, treatment courses and required less medication than did term infants during the same time period.
Conclusion: These data indicate that following exposure to maternal methadone, preterm infants have a different neonatal course than do infants born at term.