Institute hopes to improve outcomes for mothers, babies addicted to opioids

The Task Force for Global Health’s Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) recently launched a project that aims to improve health outcomes of mothers and babies who suffer from opioid addiction.

The three-year Task Force for Global Health project will gather more than 1,200 data points to create a surveillance system that will analyze the effects of opioid-use-disorder treatment during pregnancy. The system will allow public health practitioners to efficiently examine the possible effects of treatment on maternal and child health.

The project also could create the framework for future data platforms, creating a model for collecting data on opioid-related exposures during pregnancy and their related birth defects, Rachelle Jones, PHII senior business analyst and MATernaL and Infant NetworK to Understand Outcomes Associated with Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder during Pregnancy project leader, said.

“There is not a lot of systematic research out there on maternal and child health outcomes for opioid use disorder,” Jones said. “Having this data will be a major step in understanding the risks and addressing them effectively to help reduce the number of children living with birth defects and childhood developmental issues.”

Information will be collected from Boston Medical Center Corporation, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Northwest in Oregon, Ohio State University, and the University of Utah.