Prenatal Opioid Use Linked To Greater Risk of Immune Related Conditions

A new study has found that exposing babies to prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, methadone and codeine, while they’re in the womb can increase their risk of developing immune-related conditions – particularly infections, eczema and asthma – in early childhood.

When used during pregnancy, opioids have the potential to interfere with fetal development, affecting a wide range of body systems, including the immune system. Research using rat models suggests that opioid exposure during critical periods of fetal immune development may cause the immune system to overreact to subsequent immune activation.

In humans, clinical evidence suggests that prenatal opioid exposure (POE) may make a child more susceptible to immune-related conditions, but data is limited. So, researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA) have examined the association between POE caused by prescribed opioids and immune-related conditions in childhood….Story continues…