After peaking at its highest rate in years at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study shows the rate of children born with neonatal abstinence syndrome decreased, surprising researchers.
During the first year of the pandemic (2020–2021), 229 babies in British Columbia (BC) were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, surpassing the former high of 221 babies between 2017 and 2018. The peak of the opioid crisis also occurred during the pandemic, but researchers said: “The continued increase in opioid-related mortality among males and females in BC was not matched by a continued increase in the incidence of [neonatal abstinence syndrome], which decreased in 2021 and 2022.”
