Fentanyl misuse during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects
The number of babies born with severe birth defects connected with fentanyl use during pregnancy is rising. Scientists now have strong evidence linking the drug to abnormalities in newborns.
The number of babies born with severe birth defects affecting their growth and development is rising, as researchers now have strong evidence that illicit fentanyl is causing the problems.
Hospitals have identified at least 30 newborns with what has been identified as “fetal fentanyl syndrome,” NBC News has learned. The babies were born to mothers who said they’d used street drugs, particularly fentanyl, while pregnant.
“I have identified 20 patients,” said Dr. Miguel Del Campo, a medical geneticist at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego who specializes in children exposed to drugs and alcohol in utero. “I fear that this is not rare, and I fear kids are going unrecognized.”
The syndrome was first identified in 10 babies last fall by geneticists at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington, Delaware. The infants had specific physical birth defects: cleft palate, unusually small heads, drooping eyelids, webbed toes and joints that weren’t fully developed. Some had trouble feeding.
Published research about the babies caught Del Campo’s attention. He’d previously diagnosed some children with similar abnormalities with fetal alcohol syndrome, even though their mothers denied drinking while pregnant.
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