Temporal trends in outcomes for infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal managed with the Finnegan scoring tool

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in hospital outcomes for infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) assessed by the Finnegan Tool before (10/1/2019 to 12/31/2019;pre-epoch) and after (7/1/2021 to 3/31/2022;post-epoch) publication of the 2020 AAP NOWS clinical report.

STUDY DESIGN: This subgroup analysis included infants with NOWS assessed with the Finnegan Tool and enrolled in the INFORM NOW study (pre- and post-epoch 183 and 267 infants respectively).

RESULTS: No differences were found between epochs in initiation or length of pharmacologic treatment(LOT), or length of stay(LOS). Outcomes were modified by opioid type: LOT was 20% shorter (aMR=0.80; 95%CI:[0.69,0.93]) and LOS was 16% shorter (aMR=0.84; 95%CI:[0.73,0.96]) for buprenorphine treated infants post- compared to pre-epoch, while LOT and LOS were longer in the post-epoch for those treated with methadone.

CONCLUSION: There was no difference in outcomes before and after publication of the AAP report. However, the type of postnatal opioid did modify study results.