Methadone maintenance in pregnancy: consequences to care and outcome (1988)

FRANÇAIS :
Comparaison entre un groupe de 26 femmes enceintes traitées à la méthadone , un groupe de femmes toxicomanes et un groupe de femmes enceintes non toxicomanes. On étudie les facteurs d'anémie, le poids des enfants à la naissance, analyses d'urine et du liquide amniotique, hématocrite. 80 % des femmes du 1er groupe ont continué à se droguer durant leur grossesse, il n'y a pas de différence de poids entre les enfants du 1er groupe et ceux du 2e. On discute les avantages et les inconvénients de la méthadone en cours de grossesse (syndrome de manque chez le nouveau-né) sur le meilleur dosage et sur les résultats du traitement.
ENGLISH:
A retrospective analysis was conducted on the outcomes of the pregnancies of 26 narcotic-addicted women who were enrolled in a methadone maintenance program. Of these women, 88% continued to use other drugs during their pregnancy, with opiates the most frequently used, and 56% of these women had urine toxicology screens positive for either heroin, cocaine, or benzodiazepines when they presented in labor. When these women were compared with a similar group of 37 pregnant polydrug users who were not in the methadone maintenance program and who delivered during the same 12-month period, there was ho difference in the birth weights or in the infants' one- and five-minute Apgar scores. However, the women' in the methadone maintenance program had more prenatal visits, more adequate prenatal care, and less anemia than the non-methadone maintenance program drug users. When these two drugusing groups were compared with a control group of pregnant women who delivered within the same time period, there was a significant difference in the birth weights of these two groups. This raises the question of the effectiveness of methadone maintenance programs in promoting fetal growth and well-being and in reducing polydrug use during pregnancy.