Increases in drug-related infant mortality in the United States.

Publisher: Walter De Gruyter Country of Publication: Germany NLM ID: 0361031 Publication Model: Electronic-Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1619-3997 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 03005577 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Perinat Med Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Berlin : Walter De Gruyter
Original Publication: Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter.

Infant Mortality*/trends; Humans ; United States/epidemiology ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Female ; Substance-Related Disorders/mortality ; Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology ; Male ; Cause of Death ; Pregnancy

Objectives: We explored temporal trends in drug-related infant deaths in the United States (U.S.) from 2018 to 2022.
Methods: We used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). A total of 295 drug-involved infant deaths were identified from 2018 to 2022 (provisional mortality data for year 2022) based on the underlying cause of death.
Results: In the U.S. from 2018 to 2022, there was a significant 2.2-fold increase in drug-involved infant mortality. The observed increases were higher in non-Hispanic White and Black infants. The findings show that drug-involved infant deaths were more likely to occur in the postneonatal period, defined as ages 28-364 days (81.4 %) compared to the neonatal period. The most prevalent underlying causes of death included assault (homicide) by drugs, medicaments and biological substances (35.6 %) followed by poisoning due to exposure to narcotics and psychodysleptics (hallucinogens) (15.6 %). The most common multiple causes of drug-involved infant deaths were psychostimulants with abuse potential of synthetic narcotics.
Conclusions: Drug-related infant mortality has increased significantly from 2018 to 2022. These increases are particularly evident among White and Black infants and occurred predominantly in the postneonatal period. These findings require more research but also indicate the need to address drug-involved infant deaths as preventable clinical and public health issues. Effective strategies to reduce drug-involved infant deaths will require preventing and treating maternal substance use disorders, enhancing prenatal care access, and addressing broader social and behavioral risk factors among vulnerable maternal and infant populations.
(© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

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Keywords: drug-involved infant deaths; infant characteristics; infant mortality

Date Created: 20240521 Date Completed: 20240713 Latest Revision: 20240713

20240713

10.1515/jpm-2024-0067

38769850