A new standard for NOWS
Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal is a major public health problem in the world. Large numbers of infants born after fetal exposure to opioids experience unpleasant symptoms, requiring non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic intervention. Studies of different approaches for symptom…
Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal is a major public health problem in the world. Large numbers of infants born after fetal exposure to opioids experience unpleasant symptoms, requiring non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic intervention. Studies of different approaches for symptom control have the potential to improve outcomes for this fragile population. To go back in the history a bit, the Finnegan scale was developed as a research tool, it is fairly cumbersome, with 21 items, several of which are rather subjective, and some are frequent in babies without opioid exposure. The threshold for treatment, of a score of 8, was entirely arbitrary, and has never been adequately tested or compared to other thresholds.
