Journal of hospital Pula, Vol. 8 No. 8, 2011.
Original scientific paper
Mirna Milevoj Ražem
; Opća bolnica Pula, Djelatnost za pedijatriju
Mladen Jašić
; Opća bolnica Pula, Djelatnost za pedijatriju,
Lada Kalagac Fabris
; 2Opća bolnica Pula, Djelatnost za anesteziju i intenzivno liječenje
Vlasta Kocijančić
; Opća bolnica Pula, Djelatnost za pedijatriju,
Abstract
Opiate abuse during pregnancy is a serious problem for both the mother and her newborn. The pregnancies of
opiate abusing mothers are by definition high risk; the prenatal care is usually inadequate, abuse of alcohol, nicotine and
other drugs is often present and there is a high incidence of hepatitis and HIV infections. Shortly after birth, neonates develop
acute withdrawal symptoms.
In Istria, in the period of 1996 to 2009 there were 2073 registered drug abusers, 355 of them were females.
In our study, we present 29 newborns of opiate addicted mothers. The neonates were mostly born on term with spontaneous
labor, were eutrophic and with normal Apgar scores. The withdrawal symptoms developed mainly (93%) in the first
48 hours; the most common symptoms were hyperphagia (100%), hyperirritability (79%), tremor (55%) and high-pitched
cry (52%). All newborns were treated with Phenobarbital. The initial dose was 5-10 mg/kg/day in 3 to 4 divided doses and
the maximal dose was 15 mg/kg/day. The duration of Phenobarbital therapy was 16,6±8,7 days and the hospital stay was
21,6±12,2 days respectively. The cost of the treatment was 13158,8±5563,3 kn. Two neonates were transported to the Pediatric
Tertiary Care Center (Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka); one because of convulsions that couldn’t be managed with diazepam
and Phenobarbital, and one because of apnoea after birth necessitating mechanical ventilation in an Intensive Care
Unit. One newborn was referred to the Orthopedics’ ward because of major anomalies of extremities.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
85621
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2011.
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