Regional Evidence on Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Association Between Finnegan Score Severity and Laboratory Findings in a Tertiary NICU.

Objective

Maternal substance use during pregnancy is an increasing public health concern worldwide. However, data on neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) remain limited in many regions, including Turkey. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of neonates exposed to maternal substance use and to assess the association between Finnegan score severity and laboratory findings.

Methods

This retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. Neonates with prenatal substance exposure were divided into two groups according to their Modified Finnegan scores (<8 and ≥8). Demographic characteristics, clinical outcomes, and laboratory parameters, including acute phase reactants and liver enzymes, were compared between the groups. Maternal substance exposure was mainly determined by maternal self-report, with toxicological confirmation available in only two infants.

Results

A total of 25 neonates were included. Higher Finnegan scores were associated with increased white blood cell counts, plateletcrit and liver enzyme levels (AST and ALT), although only the ALT association remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Infants placed under state care had longer hospital stays than those discharged to their families (p = 0.02). No mortality was observed.

Conclusions

In this small retrospective cohort, greater withdrawal severity was associated with higher aminotransferase levels, particularly ALT, and longer hospitalization was observed among infants placed under state care. These findings should be regarded as preliminary and require confirmation in larger prospective multicenter studies.