Our objective in this study was to determine the predictive value of an institutional risk-based newborn drug-testing tool for detecting maternal drug use during pregnancy.
For 5.5 months, the umbilical cords of all newborns born at the study institution were collected and analyzed at a national reference laboratory. In the context of usual clinical care, the decision to perform newborn drug testing is based on an institutional risk assessment tool. For the cohort without clinical indication for testing, cords were deidentified during the study period. Chart review was not performed. Study data were compared with a national data set during the same time period and to previous institutional data.
We tested 857 newborns, 257 of which had 1 or more identified risk factors. There were no drugs or drug metabolites that were significantly more common in the cohort without risk factors than in the clinical cohort. Alprazolam, methamphetamine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone were all significantly more commonly found in the risk-identified cohort. Amphetamine, methamphetamine, and cocaine were not detected in umbilical cords from any of the 600 newborns that would not have been identified for testing. Tetrahydrocannabinol (1.0%; n = 6) was the only illegal substance in the institution's state that would not have been detected.
Performing universal newborn drug testing in the study population would have identified an additional 6 newborns who were exposed prenatally to tetrahydrocannabinol out of 600 who were additionally tested. In areas with a low prevalence of maternal drug use, universal testing may not be cost-effective.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
1
3%
Other
2
6%
Unknown
12
36%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 July 2019.
All research outputs
#18,025,055
of 23,152,542 outputs
Outputs from Hospital Pediatrics
#881
of 1,278 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#242,679
of 346,856 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Hospital Pediatrics
#25
of 40 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,152,542 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,278 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.3. This one is in the 23rd percentile – i.e., 23% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 40 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
