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. 2015 Jan 13;3(1):E55–E61. doi: 10.9778/cmajo.20140065
Table 2: Characteristics of mothers who were beneficiaries of the public drug plan and their infants in cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome, Jan. 1, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2010
Characteristic No. (%)*
 p value
Opioids prescribed in the 100 d before birth
n = 421		 Opioids not prescribed in the 100 d before birth
n = 197
Infants
Gestational age, wk, median (IQR)
 39
 (37–40)
 38
 (37–40)
 0.15
Birth weight, g, median (IQR)
 2990
 (2685–3391)
 2947
 (2615–3370)
 0.28
Male sex
 202
 (48.0)
 97
 (49.2)
 0.77
Mothers
Age, yr, median (IQR)
 27.5
 (24.5–31.8)
 27.8
 (24.7–32.3)
 0.46
Cesarean delivery
 127
 (30.2)
 43
 (21.8)
 0.03
Neighbourhood income quintile
   Lowest
 210
 (50.0)
 83
 (42.1)
 0.07
   Second lowest
 83
 (19.7)
 50
 (25.4)
 0.11
   Middle
 58
 (13.8)
 31
 (15.7)
 0.52
   Second highest
 38
 (9.0)
 19
 (9.6)
 0.80
   Highest
 31
 (7.4)
 12
 (6.1)
 0.56
First NAS-related admission to hospital
Birth
 396
 (94.1)
 175
 (88.8)
 0.02
Infant admission to NICU
 339
 (80.5)
 155
 (78.7)
 0.59
Length of stay, d, median (IQR)
 19
 (9–31)
 10
 (5–20)
 < 0.0001
Year following birth (infant)
Mortality
 ≤ 5†
0
 (0)
 NA
Outpatient physician encounters, median (IQR)
 25
 (16–38)
 17
 (12–27)
 < 0.001
Admissions to hospital, no., median (IQR)
 1
 (1–1)
 1
 (1–1)
 0.834
Visits to emergency department, no., median (IQR)
 1
 (0–2)
 0
 (0–2)
 0.004
Note: IQR = interquartile range, NA = not available, NAS = neonatal abstinence syndrome, NICU = neonatal intensive care unit.
*Unless otherwise indicated.
†In accordance with institutional policy, the exact number is suppressed when the cell size is ≤ 5.