title: The profile of substance-using pregnant mothers and their newborns at a regional rural hospital in New South Wales.
abstract: We conducted an audit study of identified substance-using mothers and their neonates at Lismore Base Hospital in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales between January 1995 and December 1999. Women using marijuana and/or alcohol only were excluded. The average number of total births during the study period was 1,363 per year. Forty-nine mothers were identified as substance users with an incidence of seven per 1,000 total births. Twenty-three (47%) were methadone users, 14 (29%) methadone and intravenous heroin users, 11 (22%) heroin users, and one (2%) used amphetamines. Twenty-seven (55%) had irregular antenatal visits. Forty-one (89%) were hepatitis C positive. Forty-seven neonates were live-born and there were two stillbirths. Thirty-seven (79%) required admission to the special care nursery, 40% of them for withdrawal alone. Twenty-seven (55%) babies had neonatal withdrawal and 23 (49%) required medication for withdrawal. The incidence of substance abuse among the pregnant women in this region is ten times higher than the previously quoted figures in metropolitan areas of Australia.
authors.affiliation: Lismore Base Hospital, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolisetty
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ingall
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008485:Medical Audit; D008499:Medical Records; D009357:Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*