(1025) Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Effectiveness of Targeted Umbilical Cord Drug Screening in Determining Risk of Withdrawal

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a growing health problem in the United States. “Between 2004 and 2014, the incidence of NAS in the United States increased from 1.5 per 1000 hospital births to 8.0 per 1000 hospital births, a more than fivefold increase” (Winkelman, Villapiano, Kozhimannil, Davis, & Patrick, 2018). NAS is a condition in which an infant experiences withdrawal from uterine exposure to various substances such as caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, THC, opioids, benzodiazepines, and other types of substances. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, these infants may experience a longer hospital stay and may require treatment and monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), resulting in an increase in healthcare costs. Determination of risk for NAS can be evaluated in a number of ways in regards to drug screening mothers and/or infants (Terplan & Minkoff, 2017), such as targeted screening or universal screening. With the continued rise in NAS diagnoses due to substance abuse in pregnancy in the United States, it is imperative that a plan be made to identify which infants are most at risk of withdrawal. The goal of targeted drug screening of newborns is to identify newborns at risk of NAS by using risk factors often associated with maternal substance use. Early identification of infants at greatest risk of NAS can help determine infants who would benefit from early intervention/treatment. The objective of this research was to determine if targeted drug screening of newborns was effective in determining infants at risk of NAS.