Thursday, September 19, 2024
9/19/2024
There has been an increase in the concurrent use of two of more substances (i.e., polysubstance use) in pregnant individuals over the last decade in the United States. Polysubstance use during pregnancy can result in substantial health complications for the pregnant individual as well as long-term impacts on the health of their infants such as neonatal abstinence syndrome. Healthcare disparities in treatment access for substance use because of social determinants of health result in minority populations facing a disproportionate burden of these adverse health outcomes. Developing comprehensive care programs sensitive to the needs of these high-priority populations first requires understanding the true scope of the problem and characteristics of the patient population comprising pregnant individuals and their infants. Thus, the aim of our project is to apply a rigorous informatics approach to collect data about polysubstance use in pregnancy and its health outcomes on the pregnant individual and their children. Specifically, we will collaborate with the CDC and other experts in maternal and child health, substance use, informatics, and epidemiology to define and identify dyads of the high-priority population of pregnant individuals with polysubstance use and their infants using data from the electronic health record spanning a period of at least 5 years (2016-2021). Data will be abstracted, reviewed for accuracy, completeness, and other measures of data quality, and reported to the CDC using secure file exchange to protect patient privacy. Throughout the lifecycle of the project, we will use several measures to monitor and evaluate our performance to ensure we are meeting the public health priorities of the CDC and other agencies. Funding extensions beyond year 1 will enable us to expand data gathering and reporting for datasets beyond 2021 and to other measures impacting polysubstance use in pregnancy (e.g., intimate partner violence), thus help ing capture a multi-system perspective on the topic. This grant will have a direct impact on healthcare practice and research because its work activities and findings will help improve informatics capabilities to conduct maternal and infant health surveillance and enable earlier detection of emerging threats, establish collaborations between experts in maternal and infant health, and enable data and knowledge sharing of methods, best practices, and findings to ultimately devise strategies to minimize the impact of polysubstance use in pregnancy on maternal and infant health in the US.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
