An infant of a substance-abusing mother (ISAM) is an individual whose mother has taken a substance that may potentially instigate neonatal withdrawal symptoms (1). Prenatal exposure to legal and illegal psychoactive substances can generate physiological and/or neurobehavioral difficulties in the newborn that can initiate complications with feeding, sleeping, movement, and in general poor neonatal adaption process (2). Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) refers to the collection clinical signs correlated with opioid withdrawal that usually manifests as neurological excitability, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and autonomic over reactivity (3).
Throughout the past decade, there has been rising public health, medical, and political devotion disbursed to the parallel growth in two developments: an escalation in the prevalence of prescription opioid abuse and an escalation in the incidence of NAS. The diagnosis of NAS has increased from 1.20 births 1,000 hospitals births in 2009 to 3.39 births per 1,000 hospitals births in 2009. To put this this number into context, this means 1 infant born every hour the United states had signs of drug withdrawal. Furthermore, maternal substance abuse has increased over the past decade. About 5-10 percent of deliveries nationwide are to women abused substances during pregnancy. The incidence is even higher in inner cities. The two trends are likely intertwined, but many questions remain about the nature of the NAS “epidemic” and how best approach this problem. However, in order to understand the magnitude of this problem, it is vital that NAS is examined in public health, economical and medical viewpoint. This way healthcare providers will become aware of the rapidly rising rates of NAS and drug use among pregnant women and treat affected individuals properly and minimize the utilization of
