Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development Of An Abbreviated Symptom Score For The Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome., I. Chervoneva, S. C. Adeniyi-Jones, F. Blanco, W. K. Kraft

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: We sought a shortened MOTHER neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and Finnegan score that would retain comparable performance characteristics of the full instrument.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort.

RESULTS: In total, 124,170 MOTHER NAS scores between August 2007 and May 2016 from 775 infants (≥36 weeks) were examined. Classification and regression tree model identified the most important subsets of the scored variables. A 9-element shortened scale yielded >90% sensitivity and specificity to predict clinical endpoints based on the full 19-element MOTHER NAS score. Conversion of the data sets to the Finnegan score, and applying the same procedure resulted in a nine-element …

Pharmacological And Non-Pharmacological Treatments For The Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (Nas)., A. K. Mangat, G. M. Schmölzer, W. K. Kraft

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

Neonatal abstinence syndrome is defined by signs and symptoms of withdrawal that infants develop after intrauterine maternal drug exposure. All infants with documented in utero opioid exposure, or a high pre-test probability of exposure should have monitoring with a standard assessment instrument such as a Finnegan Score. A Finnegan score of >8 is suggestive of opioid exposure, even in the absence of declared use during pregnancy. At least half of infants in most locales can be treated without the use of pharmacologic means. For this reason, symptom scores will drive the decision for pharmacologic therapy. Nevertheless, all infants, regardless of …

Buprenorphine In Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome., Walter K. Kraft

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

Infants exposed in utero to opioids will demonstrate a withdrawal syndrome known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Buprenorphine is a long-acting opioid with therapeutic use in medication-assisted treatment of opioid dependency in adults and adolescents. Emerging data from clinical trials and treatment cohorts demonstrate the efficacy and safety of sublingual buprenorphine for those infants with NAS who require pharmacologic treatment. Pharmacometric modeling will assist in defining the exposure-response relationships and facilitate dose optimization.

Ethanol Pharmacokinetics In Neonates And Infants, Elizabeth Marek, Pharmd., Walter K. Kraft, Md

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

Introduction:

Ethanol has been used for years in neonatal and infant liquid medications, yet the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety of ethanol in this vulnerable population have not been well characterized. The purpose of this review is to raise awareness of ethanol use as an excipient in neonatal and infant medications and to provide insight, based on the available evidence, into clearance rates of ethanol in babies. We also discuss ethanol pharmacokinetics in adults, theoretical pharmaco-kinetic changes in neonates and infants as it may apply to ethanol disposition, and case reports involving ethanol exposure in neonates and infants.

Materials and methods: …