The profile of substance-using pregnant mothers and their newborns at a regional rural hospital in New South Wales

We conducted an audit study of identified substance-using mothers and their neonates at Lismore Base Hospital in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales between January 1995 and December 1999. Women using marijuana and/or alcohol only were excluded. The average number of total births during the study period was 1363 per year. Forty-nine mothers were identified as substance users with an incidence of seven per 1000 total births. Twenty-three (47 %) were methadone users, 14 (29 %) methadone and intravenous heroin users, 11 (22%) heroin users, and one (2 %) used amphetamines. Twenty-seven (55 %) had irregular antenatal visits. Forty-one (89 %) were hepatitis C positive. Forty-seven neonates were live-born and there were two stillbirths. Thirty-seven (79 %) required admission to the special care nursery, 40 % of them for withdrawal alone. Twenty-seven (55 %) babies had neonatal withdrawal and 23 (49 %) required medication for withdrawal. The incidence of substance abuse among the pregnant women in this region is ten times higher than the previously quoted figures in metropolitan areas of Australia.