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Babies of drug users more likely to suffer harm
Monday, 20 July 2009The study, by SPH graduate and Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) paediatrician Dr Andrea McGlade, SPH lecturer Dr Rob Ware and Dr Maree Crawford, also of the RCH, appears in Pediatrics, the world’s most prestigious paediatric journal.
In the Brisbane-based study, researchers compared 238 infants of non substance-using mothers with 119 infants of mothers who had used opiates, amphetamine or methadone. Infants were born between 2000 and 2003, and followed until 2006.
They found that babies of substance-using mothers were far more likely to suffer substantiated harm and to enter foster care than the children of non substance-using mothers.
Twenty-four percent of the infants of drug-using mothers entered foster care, compared to 2% of infants of non-using mothers. Half of all children born to drug-abusing mothers became victims of neglect or physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
Researchers also found that the babies of mothers undergoing methadone treatment for their addiction were significantly less likely to be abused or neglected.
Dr Ware said that the study is significant because it is the first to report a risk ratio outside the US, the first to use time at risk and the first to show reduced risk with drug treatment compliance.
“This study also uses strong methodology to offer some of the best evidence to date of the effects of drug treatment on child protection outcomes,” he said.
Dr McGlade said that parental substance use is an increasingly significant public health issue and is present in up to 80% of referrals to Australian child protection agencies.
“A strong multi-disciplinary approach by health and government agencies is needed to reduce the very high risk of harm to children of substance using mothers,” she said.
“Health professional need to be made more aware of potential child protection issues in families where substance use is occurring.”
More information:
Dr Andrea McGlade
andrea@ausnet.com.au
T; 0408 464 971
Dr Rob Ware
Vanessa Mannix Coppard (Communications)
T: 042 420 7771
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