Journal article

Neonatal abstinence syndrome and other neonatal outcomes for the infants of women experiencing incarceration: A retrospective cohort study

MF Bell, E Kelty, L Segal, S Dennison, SA Kinner, S Dawe, MJ Spittal, DB Preen

Australian Journal of Social Issues | WILEY | Published : 2024

Abstract

Substance use during pregnancy is associated with poor neonatal outcomes. Women incarcerated during pregnancy may have a history of substance use, and their babies may be at risk of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). This study examines the incidence of NAS and other outcomes in infants born to currently or formerly incarcerated women. Infants born between 1985 and 2011 in Western Australia were divided into three mutually exclusive groups: born to women incarcerated during pregnancy (n = 708); born within 9–24 months of the mother's release from prison (n = 651); and born to women who were never incarcerated (n = 17,712). The impact of the timing of incarceration during pregnancy was also ..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Government


Funding Acknowledgements

The findings and views reported in this article are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the governments or departments involved in the research. Any errors of omission or commission are the responsibility of the authors. The authors would like to thank the people of Western Australia for the use of their administrative data in this research. The authors also wish to thank the staff at the Western Australian Data Linkage Branch, the WA Department of Justice, and the data custodians of the Hospital Morbidity Data Collection, Midwives Notification System and Western Australian Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages.