Opioid use in pregnancy tied to severe birth defects:
There is a possible link between opioid use and a specific birth defect: “gastroschisis”.
Infants are being born with their intestines outside of body, caused by a hole in the belly button.
Each year in U.S 1800 babies born with this condition
Some data shows that this condition may be linked to opioid use.
BUT correlation is not causation.
When researchers linked opioid prescription data with gastroschisis cases, they found a higher prevalence of gastroschisis where opioid prescription rates were high.
Also, another risk factor is having baby at young age...
According to U.S CDC and Prevention scientists:
“The researchers found that counties that had higher rates of opioid prescribing had nearly two times more babies born with gastroschisis, compared with counties with low opioid prescribing rates.”
Thoughts?
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