Fetal Opioid Exposure and Risk for Neural Anomalies

Although opioid medications are FDA pregnancy class D, their use by U.S. women has been increasing, with an estimated 20% of pregnant women reporting first-trimester opioid use in 2009. Maternal therapeutic opioid use has been associated with excess risk for heart defects and spina bifida (NEJM JW Womens Health Apr 7 2011). Now, using case-control data collected from 1998 through 2010 from mothers interviewed within 6 months of delivering babies with neural tube defects (305), other malformations (13,405), or no malformations (7125), investigators examined whether maternal opioid use is associated with risk for neural tube defects.

Mothers of babies with neural tube defects — particularly spina bifida — were more likely to report using an op…