OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the study was to compare neonatal outcomes: the incidence of NOWS, length of hospital stay (LOS), admission to neonatal intensive care (NICU), birth weight, treatment with morphine, and head circumference between newborns of mothers who had tapering of buprenorphine (T group) during pregnancy to non-tapering of buprenorphine (NT group). STUDY DESIGN: It was a prospective, pilot, case-control trial of pregnant women done in North-East Tennessee in pregnancy with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the tapered (T) group as a part of clinical care while the NT group did not taper medication. RESULTS: Significant differences were observed among neonatal outcomes
average birth weight and head circumference (p <
0.05) and admission to NICU (p <
0.05) between the two groups by t-test, and in maternal buprenorphine doses, 1.47 versus 7.6 (p <
0.0001). CONCLUSION: Comprehensive outpatient buprenorphine tapering can be done in OUD pregnancy with improved neonatal outcomes after careful discussion with providers of the risks and benefits.