Health Care Needs and Costs for Children Exposed to Prenatal Substance Use to Adulthood.

Importance: Children exposed to substance use during pregnancy have increased health needs but whether these are influenced by engagement in out-of-home care is uncertain.

Objective: To evaluate the association between substance use during pregnancy, out-of-home care and hospitalization utilization, and costs from birth up to age 20 years.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a retrospective cohort study using individual-linked population birth, hospital, and out-of-home care information of all liveborn infants from New South Wales, Australia, between 2001 and 2020 using longitudinal population-based linkage records from administrative databases.

School performance in children with prenatal drug exposure and out-of-home care in NSW, Australia: a retrospective population-based cohort study.

Background: Prenatal drug exposure (PDE) is a global public health problem that is strongly associated with the need for child protection services, including placement into out-of-home care (OOHC). We aimed to assess school outcomes for children with PDE (both with and without neonatal abstinence syndrome [NAS]) and the association of school performance with OOHC.

Methods: Using linked population health, OOHC, and school test data, we compared results on the Australian standardised curriculum-based test, the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), for children with PDE who were born in New South Wales (NSW) between 2001 and 2020 and had completed at least one NAPLAN test between Jan 1, 2008, and June 30, 2021, administered in Year 3 (age 8-9 years), Year 5 (age 10-11 years), Year 7 (age 12-13 years), or Year 9 (age 14-15 years).

'Joining the Dots: Linking Prenatal Drug Exposure to Childhood and Adolescence' - research protocol of a population cohort study.

Introduction: Prenatal drug exposure (PDE) is one of the most important causes of child harm, but comprehensive information about the long-term outcomes of the families is difficult to ascertain. The cohort study uses linked population data to understand the relationship between services, therapeutic interventions and outcomes of children with PDE.

Methods And Analysis: Information from routinely collected administrative databases was linked for all births registered in New South Wales (NSW), Australia between 1 July 2001 and 31 December 2020 (n=1 834 550).

Characteristics and causes of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome.

Aim: To determine characteristics of death in children with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS).

Methods: A population-based linkage study of children from birth to 13 years of age in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, born 1 July 2000 to 31 December 2011. Infants with an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Problems, Australian modification coding of NAS (P96.