Trends in injection drug use among pregnant women admitted into drug treatment: 1994-2006.

OBJECTIVE

To describe trends in the regional and demographic characteristics of injection drug use (IDU) during pregnancy.

METHODS

Data were obtained from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), an administrative data set that captures admissions to federally funded treatment centers in the United States. Demographic and treatment-related measures were examined and compared between injection drug and noninjection drug admissions. The results were stratified by year of admission to assess trends over time.

RESULTS

From 1994 to 2006, there were 239,511 admissions of pregnant women, of whom 34,717 (14.4%) reported IDU. There was little change in the proportion of injecting from year to year. Compared with admissions of noninjecting pregnant women, a greater proportion of injection drug users were white (68.5 vs. 48.6%), reported heroin use (70.0% vs. 13.2%), and had no health insurance (48.2% vs. 40.2%). Over the time period, the proportion of injection drug users was seen to spread from the West to the South and Northeast for heroin and to the Midwest for amphetamines.

CONCLUSIONS

IDU among pregnant women in drug treatment remains a significant public health issue, especially among white women.