Use and Misuse of Opioid Pain Medications by Pregnant and Nonpregnant Women.
Barbara St Marie, Lastascia Coleman, Julie A Vignato and 2 others
PMID 31262692WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant women reported past-year opioid use less often than nonpregnant women, but 31.89% of pregnant women still used opioids.
Misuse did not differ by pregnancy status.
Key findings
01Pregnant women reported past-year opioid use less often than nonpregnant women (31.89% vs 38.87%).
02Pregnant and nonpregnant women did not differ significantly in past-30-day opioid misuse (0.99% vs 1.62%).
03White women showed the highest misuse of opioid pain medications, and Black, Latino, and Other groups showed significantly less misuse than White women.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that pregnancy or race caused different use. The pregnant group was relatively small, and misuse in Black pregnant women was too few to test all interactions. Self-reported use and misuse may be underreported because of stigma. The time windows for use and misuse may not line up exactly with pregnancy trimester.
Declared interests
The article text does not report author conflicts or a funding statement. The supplied publication types indicate NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower past-year use among pregnant women as proof that pregnancy prevents opioid misuse. The misuse difference between pregnant and nonpregnant women was not statistically significant, and the study did not test whether screening changes outcomes.