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Neonatal abstinence syndrome: Neurobehavior at 6 weeks of age in infants with or without pharmacological treatment for withdrawal

Use and abuse of prescription opioids and concomitant increase in Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition that may lead to protracted pharmacological treatment in more than 60% of infants, has tripled since 2000. This study assessed neurobehavioral development using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale in 6-week old infants with prenatal methadone exposure who did (NAS+; n = 23) or did not (NAS-; n = 16) require pharmacological treatment for NAS severity determined by Finnegan Scale. An unexposed, demographically similar group of infants matched for age served as comparison (COMP; n = 21). NAS+, but not NAS- group, had significantly lower scores on the regulation (p < .01) and quality of movement (p < .01) summary scales than the COMP group. The NAS+ and NAS- groups had higher scores on the stress-abstinence scale than the COMP group (p < .05). NAS diagnosis (NAS +) was associated with poorer regulation and quality of movement at 6 weeks of age compared to infants without prenatal methadone exposure from the same demographic.