Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing a warning about the use of prescription painkillers by women of childbearing age and its connection to birth defects.
In research published Friday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the CDC revealed that one-fourth of privately-insured women between the ages of 15 and 44, as well as more than one-third of those who were on Medicaid, filed prescriptions for narcotic (opoid) pain medications such as codeine or oxycodone every year from 2008 through 2012.
According to Reuters, opioids are typically taken to treat moderate to severe pain, but if taken by an expectant mother (especially early on in the pregnancy), the CDC warns that they can increase the chances that infants will be born with birth defects. Officials are advising a thorough health assessment of reproductive-age women before prescribing these medications.
Studies of opioid exposure during pregnancy “suggest increase risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes,” including neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition in which the newborn child experiences symptoms of withdraw as the result of drugs or medications taken by the mother during the pregnancy.
The painkillers could also result in birth defects such as gastroschisis (a defect of a baby’s abdominal wall), and congenital heart defects or neural tube defects (serious defects in the baby’s brain and spin). Since exposure during the first weeks of pregnancy is most risky, the agency said that it is important “to assess opioid medication use among all women of reproductive age.”
“Many women of reproductive age are taking these medicines and may not know they are pregnant and therefore may be unknowingly exposing their unborn child,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement. “That’s why it’s critical for health care professionals to take a thorough health assessment before prescribing these medicines to women of reproductive age.”
The data
Researchers who analyzed the data from both privately insured women and those enrolled in Medicaid, found that an average of 39 percent of Medicaid-enrolled women and 28 percent of privately insured women had filled an opioid prescription during these four years.
Among private insurance claims, opioid prescription rates were found to be highest among reproductive-aged women in the southern US and lowest in the northeast. Among the Medicaid group, non-Hispanic white women were found to have nearly 1.5 times more opioid prescriptions that non-Hispanic black or Hispanic women, the CDC noted.
“If you are using an opioid pain killer, you should also be practicing effective birth control,” added pediatrition Dr. José F. Cordero. “If you decide to get pregnant or do become pregnant, tell your health care provider about all the medications you are taking right away. You may be able to switch to a safer alternative.”
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