Ophthalmic outcomes in children exposed to opioid maintenance treatment in utero : a systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
Opioid use disorder is a significant global issue and the rate of opioid use in women of childbearing age and pregnant women is on the rise. Whilst the adverse general health, cognitive, and neurodevelopmental outcomes of in utero exposure to opioids have been explored, there is a lack of prospective, controlled, longitudinal research into the ophthalmic outcomes. Existing research suggests that there is an association between prenatal exposure and future risk of abnormalities in visual functioning. This systematic review and meta-analysis analysed studies that measured eye abnormalities in infants or children exposed to opioid maintenance therapy in utero and compared them to non-opioid exposed controls. After considering the clinical findings, limitations of the studies, confounding factors, and quantitative analysis, a causal relationship between in utero opioid exposure and future eye abnormalities could not be confirmed. The implications of the findings and their clinical relevance, in addition to identified gaps for future research are also discussed in this paper.
Citation
Hemmati , Z , Conti , A A & Baldacchino , A 2022 , ' Ophthalmic outcomes in children exposed to opioid maintenance treatment in utero : a systematic review and meta-analysis ' , Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews , vol. 136 , 104601 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104601
Publication
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0149-7634Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104601
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