Uebel, Hannah, Wright, Ian M., Burns, Lucinda, Hilder, Lisa, Bajuk, Barbara, Breen, Courtney, Abdel-Latif, Mohamed E., Falconer, Janet, Clews, Sarah, Ward, Meredith, Eastwood, John, and Oei, Ju Lee (2020) Characteristics and causes of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 56 (12). pp. 1933-1940.

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Abstract

Aim: To determine characteristics of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

Methods: A population-based linkage study of children from birth to 13 years of age in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, born 1 July 2000 to 31 December 2011. Infants with an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Problems, Australian modification coding of NAS (P96.1,n= 3842) were compared to infants (n= 1 018 421) without NAS by birth, hospitalisation and death records linkage.

Results: Forty-five (1.2%) children with NAS died, compared to 3665 (0.4%) other children. Most deaths (n= 30, 66%) in NAS children occurred between 1 month and 1 year. Risk of death was independently increased in full-term children (hazard ratio 2.34, 95% confidence interval 1.63-3.35;P < 0.001) from lower socio-economic groups (1.23, 1.12-1.35;P < 0.001), most commonly from ill-defined or external causes, including assault and accidents (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Children with NAS, especially those of term gestation and from lower socio-economic groups, are more likely to die, especially from external causes.

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