Neonatal abstinence syndrome hospitalizations in Canada: a descriptive study

Original research
by
Plouffe, Rebecca et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

The objective of this paper is to describe the trend of newborn hospitalizations with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in Canada, between 2010 and 2020, and to examine severity indicators for these hospitalizations

Findings/Key points

An increasing number and rate of NAS hospitalizations in Canada between 2010 (n = 1013, 3.5 per 1000 live births) and 2020 (n = 1755, 6.3 per 1000 live births) were identified. A seasonal pattern was observed, where rates of NAS were lowest from April to June and highest from October to March. Mean length of stay in acute inpatient care was approximately 15 days and 71% of NAS hospitalizations were admitted to the Special Care Unit. Hospitalizations for pre-term births with NAS had longer durations and greater rates of Special Care Unit admissions compared to term births with NAS.

Direct link, if the DOI has not yet been activated: https://link.springer.com/article/10.17269/s41997-022-00726-5

Design/methods

National hospitalization data (excluding Quebec) from the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s Discharge Abstract Database, from January 2010 to March 2021, and Statistics Canada’s Vital Statistics Birth Database

Keywords

Hospitals
Parents/caregivers