heroin, while 28.1 percent said they used any non-heroin opioid.
“We also found that pregnant women living below the poverty line were more likely to engage in opioid misuse than pregnant women living at or above the poverty line,” Lipari said.
Opioid use within the past 30 days was more frequent for pregnant women living in poverty (1.6 percent) in comparison to non-pregnant women below the poverty level (0.7 percent).
About 13 percent of residential treatment centers and outpatient-only treatment facilities offered appropriate programs for pregnant or postpartum women, according to data from SAMHSA’s 2012 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services
The typical treatment for opioid addiction while pregnant is buprenorphine or methadone therapy. Although the use of these medications can still cause NAS-related problems, medication assisted addiction treatment can provide better outcomes than no treatment altogether.
SAMHSA will issue this data to Congress, which will be published in the Federal Register for public comments and recommendations.
Author: Cesar Gamboa
Cesar Gamboa is a staff reporter and editor for Addiction Now covering topics ranging from legislation to scientific studies. He was previously a general assignment reporter for the Orange County Register. SoCal raised, lover of books, and avid mountain biker (when he wants to be). He can be reached at cesarg@addictionnow.com.
