Identification of substance use disorders among pregnant women: A comparison of screeners

GraceChang, Steven J.Ondersma, TiffanyBlake-Lamb, KateGilstad-Hayden, E.John Orav, Kimberly A.Yonkers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107651

Highlights

Prenatal exposure to alcohol and other substances is common.

Such exposures can be consequential to the developing fetus and beyond.

Early universal screening of pregnant women is recommended.

Currently available prenatal screening questionnaires showed modest performance.

Abstract

Background

The purpose of this study is to evaluate five self-report, non-proprietary questionnaires in the identification of substance use disorders [including alcohol, cannabis, opioids, and stimulants] among pregnant women.

Procedures

A total of 1220 pregnant women completed the NIDA Quick Screen, CRAFFT, Substance Use Risk Profile-Pregnancy (SURP-P), Wayne Indirect Drug Use Questionnaire (WIDUS), and the 5 Ps, as well as the MINI diagnostic interview for substance use disorders, which served as the reference standard. Measures of merit calculated for each screener included sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC).

Main Findings

The participants were socioeconomically diverse, with a mean age of 29 years. Over 15% met diagnostic criteria for a substance use disorder. AUROCS for identifying any substance use disorder (including alcohol) ranged from a high of 0.75 for the CRAFFT (95% CI = 0.72-79) and 0.74 for the SURP-P (95% CI = 0.71-.78) to a low of 0.62 for the NIDA Quick Screen (95% CI = 0.59-.65). Overall accuracy of most tested measures was higher for identification of alcohol use disorders than for other substance use disorders (e.g., AUROCs for the CRAFFT and SURP-P for identifying alcohol use disorders were 0.78 and 0.77, respectively).

Principal Conclusions

The CRAFFT and SURP-P showed modest ability to identify substance use disorders among pregnant women. Future research is needed to develop an ideal questionnaire set in the complicated societal context which includes increasing rates of use and potential sanction.

Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871619304284

Leave a Reply