Effect of waiting time on substance abuse treatment completion in pregnant women

The impact of employment on treatment completion rates with DWI offenders

Drivers under the influence of alcohol cause nearly one third of all fatal motor vehicle accidents. Ambulatory outpatient alcohol use disorder treatment has been clinically shown to increase abstinence, which could decrease the chance of subsequent DWI offences. Aiding clients in successful completion of this treatment is imperative to lower the recidivism rates of DWI offenses. The research question focused on if employment status can predict successful outpatient treatment completion in court mandated adults. The TEDS-D archival data set was used, consisting of data collected between 2006-2011 from federally funded substance abuse treatment centers throughout the USA. The variables of treatment level, gender, employment status, and age were used as controls. A logistic regression using a random sample of 4947 participants determined employment status was significant. The variable of age was also a significant predictor of treatment completion. Court and treatment agencies can use this information to offer more employment support to increase chances of treatment completion.

Implementation of State Laws Giving Pregnant People Priority Access to Drug Treatment Programs in the Context of Coexisting Punitive Laws

BACKGROUND

In response to increased prenatal drug use since the 2000s, states have adopted treatment-oriented laws giving pregnant and postpartum people priority access to public drug treatment programs as well as multiple punitive policy responses. No prior studies have systematically characterized these state statutes or examined implementation of state priority access laws in the context of co-existing punitive laws.

METHODS

We conducted legal mapping to examine state priority access laws and their overlap with state laws deeming prenatal drug use to be child maltreatment, mandating reporting of prenatal drug use to child protective services, or criminalizing prenatal drug use. We also conducted interviews with 51 state leaders with expertise on their states' prenatal drug use laws to understand how priority access laws were implemented.

RESULTS

Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have a priority access law, and more than 80% of these jurisdictions also have one of the punitive prenatal drug use laws described. Leaders reported major barriers to implementing state priority access laws, including the lack of drug treatment programs, stigma, and conflicts with punitive prenatal drug use laws.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that state laws granting pregnant and postpartum people priority access to drug treatment programs are likely insufficient to significantly increase access to evidence-based drug treatment. Punitive state prenatal drug use laws may counteract priority access laws by impeding treatment seeking. Findings highlight the need to allocate additional resources to drug treatment for pregnant and postpartum people.

Development and Implementation of State and Federal Child Welfare Laws Related to Drug Use in Pregnancy

Policy Points Over the past several decades, states have adopted policies intended to address prenatal drug use. Many of these policies have utilized existing child welfare mechanisms despite potential adverse effects. Recent federal policy changes were intended to facilitate care for substance-exposed infants and their families, but state uptake has been incomplete. Using legal mapping and qualitative interviews, we examine the development of state child welfare laws related to substance use in pregnancy from 1974 to 2019, with a particular focus on laws adopted between 2009 and 2019. Our findings reveal policies that may disincentivize treatment-seeking and widespread implementation challenges, suggesting a need for new treatment-oriented policies and refined state and federal guidance.

CONTEXT

Amid increasing drug use among pregnant individuals, legislators have pursued policies intended to reduce substance use during pregnancy. Many states have utilized child welfare mechanisms despite evidence that these policies might disincentivize treatment-seeking. Recent federal changes were intended to facilitate care for substance-exposed infants and their families, but implementation of these changes at the state level has been slowed and complicated by existing state policies. We seek to provide a timeline of state child welfare laws related to prenatal drug use and describe stakeholder perceptions of implementation.

METHODS

We catalogued child welfare laws related to prenatal drug use, including laws that defined child abuse and neglect and established child welfare reporting standards, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC), from 1974 to 2019. In the 19 states that changed relevant laws between 2009 and 2019, qualitative interviews were conducted with stakeholders to capture state-level perspectives on policy implementation.

FINDINGS

Twenty-four states and DC have passed laws classifying prenatal drug use as child abuse or neglect. Thirty-seven states and DC mandate reporting of suspected prenatal drug use to the state. Qualitative findings suggested variation in implementation within and across states between 2009 and 2019 and revealed that implementation of changes to federal law during that decade, intended to encourage states to provide comprehensive social services and linkages to evidence-based care to drug-exposed infants and their families, has been complicated by existing policies and a lack of guidance for practitioners.

CONCLUSIONS

Many states have enacted laws that may disincentivize treatment-seeking among pregnant people who use drugs and lead to family separation. To craft effective state laws and support their implementation, state policymakers and practitioners could benefit from a treatment-oriented approach to prenatal substance use and additional state and federal guidance.

Disparities in opioid treatment access and retention among women based on pregnancy status from 2006 to 2017

Background:

The purpose of this study is to assess differences in wait time and retention in opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment among a sample of pregnant and non-pregnant women from low-income urban communities in Los Angeles, California.

Methods:

Data were collected in 9 waves consisting of consecutive years from 2006 to 2011, and then including 2013, 2015, and 2017. The sample consisted of 12,558 women, with 285 being pregnant and 12,273 being non-pregnant. We compared pregnant women with non-pregnant women at admission on key characteristics and relied on two multilevel negative binomial regressions analyses to examine factors related to access (days on the waiting list) and retention (days in treatment).

Results:

We detected disparities existed in access and retention. Pregnant women spent less time waiting to initate treatment than non-pregnant women and, once in treatment, had longer treatment episodes. Among pregnant women, clients identifying as Latina or Other waited longer to enter treatment compared to clients identifying as non-Latina White or Black. Women entering residential waited longer than those entering methadone or counseling services. Pregnant women were more likely to be in treatment longer if they had mental health issues, greater parenting responsibilities (number of children less than 18), and greater SUD severity (number of prior treatment episodes).

Conclusions:

Findings suggest pregnant women’s access and retention can be improved through Medicaid coverage and through the implementation of a standard of care that includes MOUD (methadone) along with ancillary health and social services.

Predictors of and reasons for early discharge from inpatient withdrawal management settings: A scoping review

ISSUES

Early discharges, also known as 'against medical advice' discharges, frequently occur in inpatient withdrawal management settings and can result in negative outcomes for patients. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify what is known about predictors of and reasons for the early discharge among adults accessing inpatient withdrawal management settings.

APPROACH

MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ASSIA and EMBASE were searched, resulting in 2587 articles for screening. Title and abstract screening and full-text review were completed by two independent reviewers. Results were synthesised in quantitative and qualitative formats.

KEY FINDINGS

Sixty-two studies were included in this scoping review. All studies focused on predictors of early discharge, except one which only described reasons for the early discharge. Forty-eight percent of studies involved retrospective review of health records data. The most frequently examined variables were demographics. Variables related to the treatment setting, such as referral source and treatment received, were examined less frequently but were more consistently associated with early discharge compared to demographics. Only six studies described patient reasons for the early discharge, which were retrieved via clinical documentation. The most common reasons for early discharge were dissatisfaction with treatment and family issues.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Most demographic variables do not consistently predict early discharge, and reasons for early discharge are not well understood. Future studies should focus on the predictive value of non-patient-level variables, or conduct analyses to account for predictors of early discharge among different subgroups of people (e.g. by gender or ethnicity). Qualitative research exploring patient perspectives is needed.

"Alcohol During Pregnancy? Nobody Does That Anymore": State Legislators' Use of Evidence in Making Policy on Alcohol Use in Pregnancy

OBJECTIVE

In recent years, U.S. states have passed many laws addressing alcohol use in pregnancy, despite limited evidence on the impact of such policies. This study explores how state legislators use evidence when making policy on alcohol use in pregnancy.

METHOD

Study data are drawn from semistructured interviews with 29 state lawmakers and their aides in Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia, conducted in March through July 2017. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed by inductive and deductive methods.

RESULTS

Despite evidence on the harms of alcohol use in pregnancy, most lawmakers did not express concern about this topic. Instead, they expressed concern about opioid use in pregnancy. Personal experiences, anecdotes, and known contacts influenced legislators' views on substance use in pregnancy, whereas evidence, for the most part, did not. The intermediaries who typically bring evidence about problems and solutions to legislators did not appear to be raising the issue of alcohol use in pregnancy on legislators' agenda.

CONCLUSIONS

Basic evidence on the prevalence and harms of alcohol use in pregnancy did not appear to influence state lawmakers' policy priorities. Concern over opioid use in general may provide a window of opportunity to educate legislators on the relative scope and harms of alcohol and opioid use in pregnancy. It remains unclear why states are passing alcohol-in-pregnancy policies. More research is needed to explore how state lawmakers form their understanding of substance use in pregnancy and related policies.

Forty Years of State Alcohol and Pregnancy Policies in the USA: Best Practices for Public Health or Efforts to Restrict Women's Reproductive Rights?

Aims

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy remains a public health problem despite >40 years of attention. Little is known about how state policies have evolved and whether policies represent public health goals or efforts to restrict women's reproductive rights.

Methods

Our data set includes US state policies from 1970 through 2013 obtained through original legal research and from the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's (NIAAA)'s Alcohol Policy Information System. Policies were classified as punitive to women or supportive of them. The association between numbers of punitive policies and supportive policies in 2013 with a measure of state restrictions on reproductive rights and Alcohol Policy Effectiveness Scores (APS) was estimated using a Pearson's correlation.

Results

The number of states with alcohol and pregnancy policies has increased from 1 in 1974 to 43 in 2013. Through the 1980s, state policy environments were either punitive or supportive. In the 1990s, mixed punitive and supportive policy environments began to be the norm, with punitive policies added to supportive ones. No association was found between the number of supportive policies in 2013 and a measure of reproductive rights policies or the APS, nor was there an association between the number of punitive policies and the APS. The number of punitive policies was positively associated, however, with restrictions on reproductive rights.

Conclusion

Punitive alcohol and pregnancy policies are associated with efforts to restrict women's reproductive rights rather than effective efforts to curb public health harms due to alcohol use in the general population. Future research should explore the effects of alcohol and pregnancy policies.

Short Summary

The number of states with alcohol and pregnancy policies has increased since 1970 (1 in 1974 and 43 in 2013). Alcohol and pregnancy policies are becoming increasingly punitive. These punitive policies are associated with efforts to restrict women's reproductive rights rather than policies that effectively curb alcohol-related public health harms.

Associations Between State-Level Policies Regarding Alcohol Use Among Pregnant Women, Adverse Birth Outcomes, and Prenatal Care Utilization: Results from 1972 to 2013 Vital Statistics

BACKGROUND

Policies regarding alcohol use during pregnancy continue to be enacted and debated in the United States. However, no study to date has examined whether these policies are related to birth outcomes-the outcomes they ultimately aim to improve. Here, we assessed whether state-level policies targeting alcohol use during pregnancy are related to birth outcomes, which has not been done comprehensively before.

METHODS

The study involved secondary analyses of birth certificate data from 148,048,208 U.S. singleton births between 1972 and 2013. Exposures were indicators of whether the following 8 policies were in effect during gestation: Mandatory Warning Signs (MWS), Priority Treatment for Pregnant Women, Priority Treatment for Pregnant Women/Women with Children, Reporting Requirements for Data and Treatment Purposes, Prohibitions Against Criminal Prosecution, Civil Commitment, Reporting Requirements for Child Protective Services Purposes, and Child Abuse/Child Neglect. Outcomes were low birthweight (<2,500 g), premature birth (<37 weeks), any prenatal care utilization (PCU), late PCU, inadequate PCU, and normal (≥7) APGAR score. Multivariable fixed-effect logistic regressions controlling for both maternal- and state-level covariates were used for statistical analyses.

RESULTS

Of the 8 policies, 6 were significantly related to worse outcomes and 2 were not significantly related to any outcomes. The policy requiring MWS was related to the most outcomes: specifically, living in a state with MWS was related to 7% higher odds of low birthweight (p < 0.001); 4% higher odds of premature birth (p < 0.004); 18% lower odds of any PCU (p < 0.001); 12% higher odds of late PCU (p < 0.002); and 10% lower odds of a normal APGAR score (p < 0.001) compared to living in a state without MWS.

CONCLUSIONS

Most policies targeting alcohol use during pregnancy do not have their intended effects and are related to worse birth outcomes and less PCU.

A Post-Hurricane Katrina Examination of Substance Abuse Treatment Discharges With Co-Occurring Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders

OBJECTIVES

There is increasing literature supporting the adverse effects of disasters on substance use and psychiatric disorders. The co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders with substance use intensifies the challenge of treatment delivery. Thus the aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of substance use, treatment characteristics, and demographics of discharges from substance abuse treatment in New Orleans, post-Hurricane Katrina. Trends associated with discharges that have a co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorder (COD) were also assessed. The secondary aim of this study was to examine the association of successful substance abuse treatment completion among those with a COD post-Hurricane Katrina.

METHODS

Substance abuse treatment discharge data (N = 16,507) from New Orleans, Louisiana, for years 2006 through 2011 were obtained from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharge. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the association of discharges with a COD and completion of substance abuse treatment. Demographic, psychiatric, and treatment characteristics of discharges in 2006 were compared to characteristics in 2011. Trends of characteristics were also assessed through the study period.

RESULTS

Roughly a third (35.2%) of all discharges in New Orleans from 2006 to 2011 had a COD. After controlling for race, employment, treatment service setting at discharge, primary substance problem, and the discharge's principal source of referral, discharges with a COD were 29% less likely to complete treatment as compared to those with no COD (AOR = 0.71, 95% CI [0.56, 0.90], p = .004). Treatment completion among discharges with a COD has significantly declined from 36.8% in 2006 to 18.7% in 2011 (p < .0001). Notable significant trends in homelessness, criminality, and heroin use were identified among discharges with a COD.

CONCLUSIONS

Substance abuse treatment undergoes various changes in the event of a natural disaster. These changes may increase challenges for successful treatment completion for vulnerable populations such as those with a COD. Results of this study demonstrate that discharges with a COD are less likely to complete treatment as compared to those with no COD disorder. Unmet treatment needs may also increase odds of criminalization and homelessness.

Differences in successful treatment completion among pregnant and non-pregnant American women

The present study explores characteristics of successful substance abuse treatment completion of pregnant women through an analysis of retrospective outcomes data. Women without prior treatment admissions, aged 18-44, and not in methadone maintenance therapy were included (N = 678,782). Chi-square tests analyzed significant differences; logistic regression provided predictive probabilities; odds ratios (OR) and risk differences with 95 % confidence intervals represent the effect sizes and clinically meaningful differences. Pregnant women were less likely to successfully complete treatment than non-pregnant women (χ (2) = 321.33, df = 1, p < 0.0001), though the difference was not clinically meaningful (risk difference = 4.75, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 4.23-5.26). Aside from criminal justice agencies, "other community agencies" refer the greatest percentage of pregnant women to treatment (risk difference = 6.37, 95 % CI = 5.89-6.84). Pregnant women successfully complete treatment more than non-pregnant women in only non-intensive outpatient settings (χ (2) = 10,182.48, df = 7, p < 0.0001). Further attention to referral source and treatment setting for pregnant women may improve successful treatment completion by targeting needs of pregnant women. Referring to non-intensive outpatient and residential hospital treatment settings may help to ameliorate prenatal substance abuse treatment contingent on the primary problem substance.

State Responses to Alcohol Use and Pregnancy: Findings From the Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS)

This article describes U.S. state policies related to alcohol use during pregnancy, using data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS). Specifically, this study examines trends in policies enacted by states over time and types of policies enacted across states in the U.S., with a focus on whether laws were supportive or punitive toward women. Findings revealed substantial variability in characteristics of policies (19 primarily supportive, 12 primarily punitive, 12 with a mixed approach, and 8 with no policies). Findings underscore the need to examine possible consequences of policies, especially of punitive policies and "mixed" approaches.

Prenatal exposure to substance of abuse: a worldwide problem

Substance abuse during pregnancy is an important public health issue affecting the mother and the growing infant. Preterm labor, miscarriage, abruption and postpartum hemorrhage are obstetric complications which have been associated with women who are dependent on abused substances. Moreover, women are also at an increased risk of medical problems such as poor nutrition, anemia, urinary tract infections as well as sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis, HIV and problems related to infection. Intrauterine growth restriction, prematurity, stillbirth, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome represent only some of fetal effects. Later on, during childhood, it has been shown that in utero exposure to substances of abuse is associated with increased rates of respiratory infections, asthma, ear and sinus infections. Moreover, these children are more irritable, have difficulty focusing their attention, and have more behavioral problems. Therefore, the assessment of in utero exposure to abused substance is extremely necessary and is relevant for the care of the mother and the offspring. In this sense, several approaches are possible; however, recently the evaluation of in utero exposure to abused drugs has been achieved by testing biological specimens coming from fetus or newborn, pregnant or nursing mother, or from both the fetus and the mother. Maternal and neonatal biological materials reflect exposure in a specific time period and each of them has different advantages and disadvantages in terms of accuracy, time window of exposure and cost/benefit ratio. The methodology for identification and determination of abused substances in biological materials are of great importance. Consequently, sensitive and specific bioanalytical methods are necessary to accurately measure biomarkers. Different immunoassays methods are used as screening methods for drug testing in the above reported specimens, however, the results from immunoassays should be carefully interpreted and confirmed by a more specific and sensitive chromatographic methods such as GC-MS or LC-MS. The interest in the development and optimization of analytical techniques to detect abused substances in different specimens is explained by the several possibilities and information that they can provide.

Disparities in completion of substance abuse treatment among Latino subgroups in Los Angeles County, CA

RATIONALE

A growing body of research has revealed disparities with respect to drug use patterns within Latino subgroups. However, the extent to which these potential disparities enable different Latino subgroups to respond favorably to treatment is unclear.

METHODS

This study analyzed a subset of multicross-sectional data (2006-2009) on Latinos collected from publicly funded facilities in Los Angeles County, CA (N=12,871). We used multilevel logistic regressions to examine individual and service-level factors associated with treatment completion among subgroups of first-time Latino treatment clients.

RESULTS

Univariate analysis showed that Cubans and Puerto Ricans were less likely to complete treatment than Mexicans and other Latinos. Cubans and Puerto Ricans entered treatment at an older age and with higher formal education than Mexicans, yet they were more likely to report mental health issues and use of cocaine and heroin as primary drugs of choice respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age, having mental health issues, reporting high use of drugs at intake, and use of methamphetamines and marijuana were associated with decreased odds of completing treatment among all Latino subgroups. In contrast, age at first drug use, treatment duration, and referral monitoring by the criminal system increased the odds of completing treatment for all members.

CONCLUSION

These findings have implications for targeting interventions for members of different Latinos groups during their first treatment episode. Promising individual and service factors associated with treatment completion can inform the design of culturally specific recovery models that can be evaluated in small-scale randomized pilot studies.