Temporal trends in outcomes for infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal managed with the Finnegan scoring tool: Insights from the INFORM NOW Study.
Publication/Presentation Date
4-16-2026
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in hospital outcomes for infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) assessed by the Finnegan Tool before (10/1/2019 to 12/31/2019;pre-epoch) and after (7/1/2021 to 3/31/2022;post-epoch) publication of the 2020 AAP NOWS clinical report.
STUDY DESIGN: This subgroup analysis included infants with NOWS assessed with the Finnegan Tool and enrolled in the INFORM NOW study (pre- and post-epoch 183 and 267 infants respectively).
RESULTS: No differences were found between epochs in initiation or length of pharmacologic treatment(LOT), or length of stay(LOS). Outcomes were modified by opioid type: LOT was 20% shorter (aMR=0.80; 95%CI:[0.69,0.93]) and LOS was 16% shorter (aMR=0.84; 95%CI:[0.73,0.96]) for buprenorphine treated infants post- compared to pre-epoch, while LOT and LOS were longer in the post-epoch for those treated with methadone.
CONCLUSION: There was no difference in outcomes before and after publication of the AAP report. However, the type of postnatal opioid did modify study results.
ISSN
1476-5543
Published In/Presented At
Devlin, L. A., Kraft, W. K., Babineau, D. C., Rhodes, E., Das, A., Crawford, M., Merhar, S., Telang, S., Leeman, L., Sokol, G. M., Ambalavanan, N., DeMauro, S. B., Hall, R. W., Lorch, S. A., & HEAL Evaluation of Limited Pharmacotherapies for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (HELP for NOWS) Consortium (2026). Temporal trends in outcomes for infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal managed with the Finnegan scoring tool: Insights from the INFORM NOW Study. Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association, 10.1038/s41372-026-02644-7. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-026-02644-7
Disciplines
Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
PubMedID
41991673
Department(s)
Administration and Leadership
Document Type
Article