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Researchers examined 49,985 women in Kaiser Permanente's prenatal care program and found that integrating substance abuse screening and treatment into routine prenatal care helped pregnant women achieve similar health outcomes as women who were not using cigarettes, alcohol or other drugs.

The study compared 2,073 pregnant women who were screened, assessed and received ongoing intervention during pregnancy through the Early Start program at 21 Kaiser Permanente Northern California outpatient obstetric clinics from 1999 to 2003, to women in three other groups: 156 women who were screened but did not accept assessment or treatment; 1,203 women were screened, assessed and received brief intervention only; and a control group of 46,553 women who showed no evidence of substance abuse.

The study, published online in the Journal of Perinatology, found the risk of stillborn, placental abruption -- in which the placental lining separates from the mother's uterus -- pre-term delivery, low birth weight and neonatal ventilation were dramatically higher for the 156 untreated substance abusers than for the 2,073 women in the Early Start program.

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