Engagement With Recommended Developmental Follow-up and Supports Among Infants With Intrauterine Opioid Exposure.

Single-site study at one urban academic medical center, so it may not apply to other hospitals or communities. Half of the infants received pediatric care outside the hospital network, so the researchers could not adjust for postpartum recovery stability, housing insecurity, and social supports. The sample was mostly non-Hispanic/Latinx white and publicly insured, so it may not represent communities with different demographics or insurance patterns. Data came from records, so missed information, misclassification, and unequal follow-up are possible. The study cannot prove why families engaged or did not engage, and it did not ask families about perceived need, stigma, or barriers. The developmental follow-up clinic associations were not significant in a sensitivity analysis, so they should be read cautiously.

Do not read the higher developmental follow-up attendance after antipsychotic exposure or substance use disorder clinic care as proof that those factors cause better engagement. The study is retrospective and shows associations, and the developmental follow-up associations did not remain significant in a sensitivity analysis.