Awareness needed in dangers of opioid use during pregnancy

WASHINGTON — We have long heard about the dangers of alcohol and pregnancy, but some prescription-strength pain or cough medications can also damage an unborn child.

The problem is there is not enough public awareness of the link between birth defects and prescription opioids such as hydrocodone, codeine and oxycodone, and women are taking these drugs who may be pregnant and don’t know it.

“Opioids have long been thought to be comparatively acceptable in pregnancy and now we are finding that especially in the first trimester that opioids do, in fact, cause birth defects,” says Dr. Cynthia King, an OB-GYN in Bethesda and Rockville, Maryland.

She says women need to be informed about the risk, adding “it is a matter of really raising awareness among the general public and among patients in particular.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a campaign to get the word out. According to the CDC, more than a third of reproductive-aged women covered by Medicaid and more than a quarter of those with private insurance filled a prescription for one of these drugs each year between 2008 and 2012. The CDC says some may have unknowingly exposed their unborn child.

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