Adolescent pregnancy and substance use

OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on adolescent pregnancy and substance use for the purpose of identifying practice and research implications. DATA SOURCES: Computerized searches were done using MEDLINE and CINAHL, as well as references cited in the articles reviewed. Key words used in the search were adolescent pregnancy and substance use; teen pregnancy and substance abuse; adolescent risk behaviors; pregnant adolescent and drug addiction; and perinatal substance use. STUDY SELECTION: Articles and comprehensive works from indexed journals in the English language published after 1986 were reviewed. DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted and organized using these headings: motivation for drug use; common drugs used; cigarette smoking; alcohol; and other drugs. DATA SYNTHESIS: This review identifies factors associated with drug use in adolescent pregnancy, risk factors for the teenaged mother and her developing fetus, and suggestions of health care providers who have studied adolescent pregnancy and substance use. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses who care for pregnant adolescents are in an ideal position to assess for signs and symptoms of substance abuse, provide education, initiate interventions and referrals, and provide follow-up care. Early identification of substance abuse is a key factor in the prevention of pregnancy complications and poor fetal outcome.     

Adolescent pregnancy and substance use

The question of just what is the relationship of early pregnancy and childbearing and substance use among adolescents remains unanswered. From a public health perspective, both behaviors are unwanted, and populations that are at risk are often at high risk for both. Perhaps prevention of one behavior may be expected to prevent the other. This, however, may be too simplistic a notion, grounded in misconception of the role of early pregnancy and specific cultural context. Furthermore, several studies have documented a decline of drug use during pregnancy and just after delivery among adolescent mothers. Does this trend continue through the parenting years? If so, for whom? What are the individual maternal, child, and family environmental characteristics that predict a decline in use or continued abstinence after early childbearing? Within the context of poverty, lower educational attainment, minority status, and high prevalence of alcohol and drug use, pregnancy may play a positive role. With a change in role, young women may be less likely than nonparenting peers and less likely than prior to their own pregnancy to become deeply involved in the negative behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, and substance use. Perhaps this is a potential opportunity to intervene. To summarize, the health risk behaviors of substance use and adolescent pregnancy and childbearing appear to be linked. Youths who become pregnant before they complete high school represent a particular group of young women who may be at higher risk than the general population for substance use, at least cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Yet, most pregnant teenagers are not substance users. Among those who are, frequency and amounts of use in most samples were low compared with adult samples of pregnant women. Furthermore, there is evidence that teenagers perceive substance use as a risk to their pregnancies and their unborn children. Among users, there is a decrease in use and increase in quit rates during pregnancy and early childrearing years. Many of these young people are embedded in an environment with very high rates of use among family, partners, and peers. There appears to be strong evidence of covariation of risk behaviors. It is possible that for some youths, pregnancy can be viewed as an opportunity and a chance to intervene to decrease risks for initiating and decrease use among adolescents already using substances. It may be a natural touch point, and pregnancy and parenthood may transition youths out of a high-risk experimentation phase of their adolescence. Further research, especially that of a longitudinal nature, is needed to address the complex issues of adolescent pregnancy and substance use.     

Epidemiology of substance use disorders in women

Significant gender differences exist in the prevalence of substance use disorders in the United States. There is a trend among boys and girls aged 12 to 17 years toward comparable rates of use and initiation for alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and tobacco. If this trend continues, over time there may be a narrowing of the male-to-female prevalence ratios of substance abuse in the older age groups. This possibility is particularly disturbing because women have a heightened vulnerability to medical, physical, mental, and social consequences of substance use. Women also carry additional unique risks during pregnancy because of the effect on neonates. In addition, they have certain gender-specific cancer risks. Given this and the declining age of initiation of substance use in women, prevention and treatment efforts especially geared toward women (eg, education of all medical and paramedical staff, screening in primary care clinics, detection of drug use early in pregnancy or before conception, brief interventions and treatment programs that integrate women's needs) are exceedingly important to stop and ultimately reverse this growing trend.     

Maternal and fetal effects from substance use

This article discusses a variety of issues related to pregnancies complicated by substance use. Drug use is most prevalent in the reproductive age population. Even though a reduction in substance use may occur during pregnancy, some women may not alter their drug use patterns until pregnancy is diagnosed. For these reasons, a large number of fetuses are exposed to illicit substances in utero. Care of substance-using pregnant women is complex, difficult, and often demanding. Providers must be aware of their unique psychologic and social needs, and the related legal and ethical ramifications surrounding pregnancy.     

Prenatal hazardous substance use and adverse birth outcomes

Objective: Assess the relative effects of a variety of illicit and licit drugs on risk for adverse birth outcomes. Methods: We used data from two large prospective investigations, and a novel analytic method, recursive partitioning class analysis to identify risk factors associated with preterm birth and delivering a small for gestational age infant. Results: Compared to cocaine and opiate non-users, cocaine users were 3.53 times as likely (95% CI: 1.65-7.56; p = 0.001) and opiate users 2.86 times as likely (95% CI: 1.11-7.36; p = 0.03) to deliver preterm. The odds of delivering a small for gestational age infant for women who smoked more than two cigarettes daily was 3.74, (95% CI: 2.47-5.65; p<0.0001) compared to women who smoked two or less cigarettes daily and had one previous child. Similarly, less educated, nulliparous women who smoked two or fewer cigarettes daily were 4.12 times as likely (95% CI: 2.04-8.34; p < 0.0001) to have a small for gestational age infant. Conclusions: Among our covariates, prenatal cocaine and opiate use are the predominant risk factors for preterm birth; while tobacco use was the primary risk factor predicting small for gestational age at delivery. Multi-substance use did not substantially increase risk of adverse birth outcomes over these risk factors.     

Psychosocial treatments for women with substance use disorders

Research on psychosocial treatments for women generally has consisted of quasi-experimental studies, with few randomized controlled trials that specifically test the effectiveness of treatment for women. Review of the available research literature suggests the following: (1) women, compared with men, evidence poorer prognostic characteristics; (2) women generally do not differ significantly from men on treatment utilization or outcome, with the possible exception of employment outcomes, which have been found to be poorer for women; and (3) women may benefit significantly from enhanced treatment services. This article also discusses guidelines for treatment providers and researchers.     

Ethical considerations in caring for women with substance use disorders

People living with addiction endure many hardships, and this may be especially true for women who face distinct clinical and significant psychologic and socioeconomic repercussions of addictive disorders and their companion stresses. Clinicians who work with women with addictions are confronted by many challenges, particularly in the care of pregnant and parenting women. The dilemmas faced by patients with addictions and their providers often arise directly from tensions among core ethical principles, from inconsistencies in the way these principles are applied, and from the pervasive effects of stigma. Although difficult issues are to be expected in the arena of substance abuse treatment, consideration of principles of voluntarism, beneficence, respect for persons and justice, confidentiality and truth-telling, and informed consent are invaluable in shaping clinical ethical decision making. Furthermore, proactive steps can be taken to enhance the ethical caliber of care. These steps involve policy-level and systemic actions, such as the development and expansion of programs serving women's unique needs, empiric research into the most effective treatments for women with various disorders, and reexamination of legal and societal stances toward pregnant and parenting women who have addictions. In addition, local and individual steps are needed, including addressing gaps or inherent biases in programs, training counselors and clinicians in effective strategies or counseling styles, and developing awareness of one's own attitudes when dealing with difficult patients and challenging disorders. Such efforts will help ensure that women who have addictions will be cared for in a manner that is respectful, beneficent, compassionate, honest, and just.     

Parenting self-efficacy and empowerment among expectant mothers with substance use disorders

Objectiveto describe parenting self-efficacy and family empowerment among expectant mothers with substance use disorders.Designthe study employed a quantitative cross-sectional design.Participantsparticipants were 71 pregnant women with substance use disorders entering a gender-specific, substance use disorder, residential treatment facility.Measurementsmeasurement tools included: the demographic data form, the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, the Addiction Severity Index, and the Family Empowerment Scale.Findingswomen in their third trimester reported statistically significant higher levels of both parenting self-efficacy and family empowerment than women in their first trimester.Key conclusionsinterventions that promote parenting self-efficacy and family empowerment need to target women in their first trimester.Implications for practicemidwives with specialized training in substance abuse disorders are in a unique position to bolster expectant mothers’ parenting capabilities during the addiction recovery process.     

Acceptability of mindfulness-based interventions for substance use disorder: A systematic review

Backgroundand Purpose: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) for substance use disorders (SUD) have shown promising results. However, acceptability of MBIs in the context of SUD treatment has yet to be systematically assessed across published studies. Our aims were to (a) review the literature for assessments of acceptability; (b) summarize how, when, and for whom acceptability is being measured; and (c) create suggestions for best practices in measuring acceptability of MBIs for SUD.MethodsFive databases were searched with key terms related to mindfulness, relapse prevention, and SUD.ResultsResults highlight that studies of MBIs for SUD treatment lack acceptability assessment, a consistent definition of acceptability, and standardized measurements of acceptability. Conclusion: The lack of measurement and conceptual consistency make it difficult to conclude acceptability of MBIs for SUD treatment. It is imperative that more efforts be directed toward measurement of intervention acceptability to assess whether such interventions could be taken to scale.     

Pregnancy-related substance use in the United States during 1996-1998

OBJECTIVE: To provide a baseline estimate of the national prevalence of pregnancy-related illicit drug use and abstinence rates. METHODS: We analyzed data collected between 1996 and 1998 from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, a nationally representative sample survey of 22,303 noninstitutionalized women aged 18-44 years, of whom 1,249 were pregnant. RESULTS: During 1996-1998, 6.4% of nonpregnant women of childbearing age and 2.8% of pregnant women reported that they used illicit drugs. Of the women who used drugs, the relative proportion of women who abstained from illicit drugs after recognition of pregnancy increased from 28% during the first trimester of pregnancy to 93% by the third trimester. However, because of postpregnancy relapse, the net pregnancy-related reduction in illicit drug use at postpartum was only 24%. Marijuana accounted for three-fourths of illicit drug use, and cocaine accounted for one-tenth of illicit drug use. Of those who used illicit drugs, over half of pregnant and two-thirds of nonpregnant women also used cigarettes and alcohol. Among the sociodemographic subgroups, pregnant and nonpregnant women who were young (18-30 years) or unmarried, and pregnant women with less than high school education had the highest rates of illicit drug use. CONCLUSION: The continued burden of illicit drug use during pregnancy calls for policy efforts to enable primary care providers to identify and refer women who use substances to treatment and support services. Prevention of uptake of illicit drug use should be an integral part of public health programs for young women.     

Maternal cigarette smoking,psychoactive substance use,and infant Apgar scores

A study of 1,709 mother/child pairs at Boston City Hospital examined whether maternal cigarette smoking, drinking, or the use of other psychoactive substances was associated with low infant Apgar scores. The potential confounding effects of other labor and delivery risks were controlled in the analysis. In contrast to previous reports, univariate and stepwise multiple regression analyses did not identify a significant negative association between cigarette smoking and 1- or 5-minute Apgar scores. None of the substance use variables was significantly associated with low infant Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes. Other labor and delivery risks, such as short length of gestation, abnormal delivery presentation, placental abnormalities, nuchal cord, and exposure to general anesthesia during delivery, were associated with low Apgar scores.     

The interaction of pregnancy,substance use and mental illness on birthing outcomes in Australia

Backgroundthis study aimed to (1) assess the prevalence, and demographic features of women with a history of mental illness during pregnancy and childbirth, (2) investigate maternal and perinatal outcomes in relation to mental illness and substance use, and (3) determine the effects of maternal characteristics, history of mental illness and substance use on birth outcomes.Methodsthe records of 22,193 pregnant women who gave birth at one tertiary level health service comprising three maternity settings in Victoria, Australia from 2009 to 2011 were reviewed.Univariate comparisons for socio-demographic and birthing outcome variables by substance use and mental illness category were performed. A multivariable logistic regression model was developed to examine the effects of maternal characteristics on birth outcomes.Resultsmental illness was recorded for 1.08/1,000 delivery hospitalisations.Mothers with a history of mental illness had a significantly higher proportion of babies born with low birth weight (OR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.64 -2.09) and low Apgar 1 scores<7 (OR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.26 - 1.70).Differences in health behaviours were also noted between the two groups.Babies born to women with an illicit and poly substance use history reported an average birth weight at 2,951 (SD 777) grams compared to birth weight of approximately 3,300 g of smoking and alcohol user groups, as well as shorter gestational age and lower birth weight. There was a statistically significant interaction between the effects of mental illness and substance use on birth weight. This interaction effect was not significant for gestational age. Logistic regression showed the strongest predictor of reporting a premature birth and low birth weight was using substances, recording an odds ratio of 1.95 (95% CI 1.50–2.53) and 2.73 (95% CI 2.15–3.47) respectively.Conclusionsmental health history should be highlighted as being a common morbidity and the increased risk of poorer birth outcomes especially when the women were also using substances, alcohol or tobacco should be acknowledged by the health practitioners.     

Time trend of substance use among adolescent students in Taiwan, 1991-1996.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and time trend of cigarette, alcohol, and illicit substance use among adolescent students in Taiwan, from 1991 through 1996. Subjects were selected through a two-stage random-sampling procedure. In the first stage, the strata were based on the type of school: middle school (13-15 years), high school (16-18), vocational school (16-18), and junior college (first 3 years only, 16-18). In the second stage, the strata were based on grade: one class each for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades were randomly selected from each type of school. Students were guaranteed anonymity before the questionnaire was administered. About 12,000 students from 100 schools participated each year in 1991 and 1994-1996. In 1993, 8,320 students from 65 schools participated. The prevalence of smoking and drinking decreased between 1991 and 1994, and then increased between 1994 and 1996. In 1996, the prevalence of illicit substance use was 15.4% for smoking, 16.7% for drinking, and 1.5% for illicit substance use. The rate of illicit substance use was lowest among high school students, followed by middle school students, and higher among students in vocational schools and junior colleges. The percentage of smokers and drinkers who had started early (at age 12 or earlier) rose every year. The prevalence of smoking and drinking habits among girls increased consistently during the study period. The most commonly abused substance was amphetamine. However, in 1996, sniffing glue became more prominent among middle school students, and flunitrazepam became the second most commonly abused substance among high school students.     

Comparison of questionnaire screening and urine toxicology for detection of pregnancy complicated by substance use.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of structured questionnaire screening and prenatal urine toxicology for the detection of substance use by pregnant women, and to describe substance use patterns in a group of women presenting to a university-based obstetric clinic. METHODS: All patients presenting to our obstetric clinic for their first prenatal visit were evaluated for evidence of current use of alcohol or any illicit substances. Nursing personnel administered an extensive questionnaire, which included detailed questions about past and current substance use patterns. Urine samples were examined by a commercial laboratory for alcohol and a number of illicit substances. Current users were defined as those who admitted use within the past 30 days or who had positive urine toxicology. RESULTS: Fifty-eight of 302 patients (19.2%) were identified as current users of alcohol or illicit substances. Only 17 of 41 women (41.5%) with toxicologic evidence of recent use admitted to current use. Only 17 of 34 (50.0%) admitting to current use had toxicology positive for any substance. Patients with a history of multiple past substance use were significantly more likely to have positive urine toxicology than those without such a history (26.1 versus 7.4%; P < .005). Among current users, multiple substance use (34.5%) and cigarette smoking (52%) were common. CONCLUSION: A screening combination of structured questionnaire and universal urine toxicology identifies more current users than either technique alone, and neither is clearly superior to the other. A history of multiple substance use may be an important indicator of current use.     

A history of induced abortion in relation to substance use during subsequent pregnancies carried to term

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has revealed a general association between induced abortion and substance use. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation when substance use is measured specifically during a subsequent pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: A nationally representative sample of women was surveyed about substance use during pregnancy shortly after giving birth. Women with a previous induced abortion, whose second pregnancy was delivered, were compared separately with women with one previous birth and with women with no previous births. RESULTS: Compared with women who gave birth, women who had had an induced abortion were significantly more likely to use marijuana (odds ratio, 10.29; 95% CI, 3.47-30.56), various illicit drugs (odds ratio, 5.60; 95% CI, 2.39-13.10), and alcohol (odds ratio, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.31-3.76) during their next pregnancy. The results with only first-time mothers were very similar. CONCLUSION: Psychosocial mechanisms that may explain the findings are discussed. Screening for abortion history may help to identify pregnant women who are at risk for substance use more effectively.     

Screening for substance use in pregnancy: a practical approach for the primary care physician

Our goal was to identify risk factors for substance use during pregnancy for primary care physicians so that we could assess a woman's risk of alcohol or illicit drug use. Participants were 2002 Medicaid-eligible pregnant women with < or =2 visits to prenatal care clinics in South Carolina and Washington State. Structured interviews were used to collect data. Logistic regressions and classification and regression trees identified predictors for pregnant women at high risk for substance use. Approximately 9% of the sample reported current use of either drugs or alcohol or both. Past use of alcohol or cigarettes, including during the month before pregnancy, most differentiated current drug or alcohol users from current nonusers. Our analysis suggests that primary care physicians can ask 3 questions in the context of a prenatal health evaluation to target women for referral to a full clinical assessment for drug and alcohol use.     

Psychiatric and substance use disorders as risk factors for low birth weight and preterm delivery

OBJECTIVE: We examined the associations between psychiatric and substance use diagnoses and low birth weight (LBW), very low birth weight (VLBW), and preterm delivery among all women delivering in California hospitals during 1995. METHODS: This population-based retrospective cohort analysis used linked hospital discharge and birth certificate data for 521,490 deliveries. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the associations between maternal psychiatric and substance use hospital discharge diagnoses and LBW, VLBW, and preterm delivery while controlling for maternal demographic and medical characteristics. RESULTS: Women with psychiatric diagnoses had a significantly higher risk of LBW (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7, 2.3), VLBW (OR 2.9; 95% CI 2.1, 3.9), and preterm delivery (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4, 1.9) compared with women without those diagnoses. Substance use diagnoses were also associated with higher risk of LBW (OR 3.7; 95% CI 3.4, 4.0), VLBW (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3, 3.3), and preterm delivery (OR 2.4; 95% CI 2.3, 2.6). CONCLUSION: Maternal psychiatric and substance use diagnoses were independently associated with low birth weight and preterm delivery in the population of women delivering in California in 1995. Identifying pregnant women with current psychiatric disorders and increased monitoring for preterm and low birth weight delivery among this population may be indicated.