A new report by the CDC says the number of children born to opioid-addicted mothers has quadrupled since 1999. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows, "the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic on families across the U.S.," CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield said. "Including on the very youngest. Each case represents a mother, a child, and a family in need of continued treatment and support."
Researchers analyzed 15 years of data from 28 states starting in 1999 and found 1.5 out of every 1,000 babies born were delivered by women addicted to suffering from opioid addiction. The study concluded in 2014, by that time the number reached 6.5 babies per 1,000 births.
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The District of Columbia had the lowest numbers with only 0.7 births out of 1,000 deliveries were to addicted women. Risks of using opioids while pregnant include the possibility of a stillbirth and neonatal abstinence syndrome, the term used for babies born with addiction who can suffer seizures, breathing problems, and other developmental issues. Addicted babies often are required to spend weeks in the hospital and can need methadone in order to ease symptoms.
<a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2018/08/study_working_in_pain_linked_to_opioid_deaths_in_construction_fishing">Another opioid study published this week</a> suggests there is a link between manual labor and dying of an opioid overdose. That one shouldn't be surprising considering manual labor comes with a whole host of physical problems and chronic injuries which are painful. Since employees in physical labor industries often have low job security, low pay, and no benefits such as sick leave, workers often end up abusing pills in order to keep working.
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The executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health employers Jodi Sugerman-Brozan suggests employers "keep five years of workplace injury records, increase access to paid sick leave and empower unions. These are steps we can take right now to help end all this needless suffering and loss."
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