Early start: a cost-beneficial perinatal substance abuse program.

Objective: To conduct a cost-benefit analysis of Early Start, an integrated prenatal intervention program for stopping substance use in pregnancy.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of 49,261 women who had completed prenatal substance abuse screening questionnaires at obstetric clinics and who had undergone urine toxicology screening tests. Four study groups were compared: women screened and assessed positive and followed by Early Start (screened-assessed-followed, n=2,032), women screened and assessed positive without follow-up (screened-assessed, n=1,181), women screened positive only (screened-positive-only, n=149), women in the control group who screened negative (control, n=45,899).

Using drink size to talk about drinking during pregnancy: a randomized clinical trial of Early Start Plus.

This clinical trial compared two brief alcohol use interventions in prenatal clinics: Early Start (ES), a substance-abuse screening and treatment program integrated with prenatal care focused on abstention (n=298), and Early Start Plus (ESP), adding a computerized drink-size assessment tool and intervention focused on drinking less (n=266). Controls were untreated alcohol users (n=344). Controls had higher adverse neonatal and maternal outcome rates.