Rates of Opioid-Related Diagnoses Have Increased in Pregnancy

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) — The rates of opioid-related diagnoses have increased among pregnant individuals, and they are associated with increased risks for maternal and neonatal morbidity, according to a study published online Dec. 23 in the Journal of Addiction Medicine.

Kristin C. Prewitt, M.D., M.P.H., from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, and colleagues examined the associations between opioid-related diagnoses in pregnancy and maternal and neonatal outcomes in a retrospective cohort study of California-linked hospital-discharge vital statistics data from 2008 to 2020.

A total of 5,546,744 singleton pregnancies with a gestational age of 23 to 42 weeks were included; 13,749 (0.25 percent) had an opioid-related diagnosis. The researchers found that from 2008 to 2020, there was an increase in the prevalence of an opioid-related diagnosis from 0.14 to 0.33 percent in pregnant individuals. The risks for hypertensive disease, severe maternal morbidity (SMM), nontransfusion SMM, and blood transfusion were higher in association with opioid-related diagnoses (adjusted risk ratios [aRRs], 1.23, 1.84, 2.16, and 1.77, respectively). The risks for infant death, preterm birth <37 weeks, neonatal intensive care unit admission, respiratory distress syndrome, and neonatal abstinence syndrome were increased among neonates of individuals with an opioid-related diagnosis (aRRs, 1.72, 1.71, 2.80, 2.40, and 70.18, respectively).

“The findings of our study highlight the urgent need to further characterize the impact of opioid class, timing of use, potency, and route of use on short-term and long-term maternal and offspring outcomes to better inform obstetric counseling of pregnant individuals on the potential harms of use and to mitigate adverse perinatal outcomes,” the authors write.

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