To Your Health
April, 2022 (Vol. 16, Issue 04) |
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Not During Pregnancy
By Editorial Staff
Add opioids to the list of items to avoid while you're expecting a child (if they're not already on your list of drugs to avoid altogether considering the rate of addictions, overdoses and deaths attributable to this powerful medication).
That's because research suggests maternal opioid use during pregnancy increases the risk that your child will one day be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Researchers analyzed data from the Boston Birth Cohort (1998-2019) to determine prenatal exposure to opioids and various other substances (cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, etc.) among 3,138 children with and without ADHD. Average postnatal follow-up for children was 12 years, allowing for more than a decade for ADHD symptoms to develop.
Prenatal opioid exposure was associated with the highest childhood risk of ADHD. Researchers also noted interactions between substances (opioids and alcohol, opioids and cannabis, opioids and smoking) that increased ADHD risk compared to non-use. Findings appear in JAMA Network Open, an open-access research journal of the American Medical Association.
Two takeaways from this study: 1) What you do during pregnancy doesn't just affect you; it can affect your child profoundly. 2) Continuing data links opioids with bad health outcomes, which means if your medical doctor ever tries to prescribe an opioid (OxyContin and Percodan are two of the most familiar brand names), inquire about the opioid crisis and whether non-opioid alternatives are available. Better yet, ask about nondrug options for your pain.
