Miele K, Kim SY, Jones R, Rembert JH, Wachman EM, Shrestha H, Henninger ML, Kimes TM, Schneider PD, Sivaloganathan V, Sward KA, Deshmukh VG, Sanjuan PM, Maxwell JR, Seligman NS, Caveglia S, Louis JM, Wright T, Bennett CC, Green C, George N, Gosdin L, Tran EL, Meaney-Delman D, and Gilboa SM
Problem: Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is recommended for persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) during pregnancy. However, knowledge gaps exist about best practices for management of OUD during pregnancy and these data are needed to guide clinical care., Period Covered: 2014-2021., Description of the System: Established in 2019, the Maternal and Infant Network to Understand Outcomes Associated with Medication for Opioid Use Disorder During Pregnancy (MAT-LINK) is a surveillance network of seven clinical sites in the United States. Boston Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, The Ohio State University, and the University of Utah were the initial clinical sites in 2019. In 2021, three clinical sites were added to the network (the University of New Mexico, the University of Rochester, and the University of South Florida). Persons receiving care at the seven clinical sites are diverse in terms of geography, urbanicity, race and ethnicity, insurance coverage, and type of MOUD received. The goal of MAT-LINK is to capture demographic and clinical information about persons with OUD during pregnancy to better understand the effect of MOUD on outcomes and, ultimately, provide information for clinical care and public health interventions for this population. MAT-LINK maintains strict confidentiality through robust information technology architecture. MAT-LINK surveillance methods, population characteristics, and evaluation findings are described in this inaugural surveillance report. This report is the first to describe the system, presenting detailed information on funding, structure, data elements, and methods as well as findings from a surveillance evaluation. The findings presented in this report are limited to selected demographic characteristics of pregnant persons overall and by MOUD treatment status. Clinical and outcome data are not included because data collection and cleaning have not been completed; initial analyses of clinical and outcome data will begin in 2023., Results: The MAT-LINK surveillance network gathered data on 5,541 reported pregnancies with a known pregnancy outcome during 2014-2021 among persons with OUD from seven clinical sites. The mean maternal age was 29.7 (SD = ±5.1) years. By race and ethnicity, 86.3% of pregnant persons were identified as White, 25.4% as Hispanic or Latino, and 5.8% as Black or African American. Among pregnant persons, 81.6% had public insurance, and 84.4% lived in urban areas. Compared with persons not receiving MOUD during pregnancy, those receiving MOUD during pregnancy were more likely to be older and White and to have public insurance. The evaluation of the surveillance system found that the initial four clinical sites were not representative of demographics of the South or Southwest regions of the United States and had low representation from certain racial and ethnic groups compared with the overall U.S. population; however, the addition of three clinical sites in 2021 made the surveillance network more representative. Automated extraction and processing improved the speed of data collection and analysis. The ability to add new clinical sites and variables demonstrated the flexibility of MAT-LINK., Interpretation: MAT-LINK is the first surveillance system to collect comprehensive, longitudinal data on pregnant person-infant dyads with perinatal outcomes associated with MOUD during pregnancy from multiple clinical sites. Analyses of clinical site data demonstrated different sociodemographic characteristics between the MOUD and non-MOUD treatment groups., Public Health Actions: MAT-LINK is a timely and flexible surveillance system with data on approximately 5,500 pregnancies. Ongoing data collection and analyses of these data will provide information to support clinical and public health guidance to improve health outcomes among pregnant persons with OUD and their children., Competing Interests: All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The Maternal and Infant Network to Understand Outcomes Associated with Medication for Opioid Use Disorder During Pregnancy (MAT-LINK) is funded by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation’s Office of the Secretary Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund. All clinical site coauthors report funding for MAT-LINK. Katherine A. Sward reports funding from the National Institutes of Health for work with the Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network as a Data Coordinating Center. Vikrant G. Deshmukh reports a National Cancer Institute/University of Wisconsin subaward for investigating COVID-19 complications among smokers. Pilar M. Sanjuan reports funding as a principal investigator from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for Project REACT (neural underpinnings of emotional regulation and drinking to cope); the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Project Vida (prenatal opioid use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder); and the National Institute of Mental Health for Project Raptor (attention and post-traumatic stress disorder) and as a coinvestigator from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism on Project AsCENd (neuroimaging of child attention development); the National Institute on Drug Abuse Helping to End Addiction Long-Term initiative for Integrative Management of chronic Pain and OUD for Whole Recovery (pain and prenatal opioid use) and for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development study; and relationships with New Mexico Postpartum Support International as a board chair and the New Mexico Perinatal Collaborative as a board member. Jessie R. Maxwell reports funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for work as a coinvestigator on the HEALthy Brain and Childhood Development studies; the National Institutes of Health for work as a Helping to End Addiction Long-Term initiative alternate principal investigator; the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for work as a principal investigator on a project; the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for work as a coinvestigator on a local project; and the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network for work as site principal investigator, work as a junior investigator, and meeting attendance as a member of the leadership committee. Neil S. Seligman reports funding from PreTel Inc. and Mae Stone Goode for work not related to this report; Natera for consulting fees; UpToDate for writing; and various legal reviews. Judette Louis reports funding from TD Bank for an institutional grant; Wolters Kluwer for an UpToDate piece on sleep apnea during pregnancy; Hologic for a one-time fee; Elsevier for serving as a textbook editor; Goldasich, Vick & Fulk for a fee; Sleep Disorder Research Advisory Board for being a member; the National Institutes of Health for work on a personalized integrated chronotherapy for perinatal depression; March of Dimes for travel expenses related to being a board member; Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine for travel expenses related to being a board member; American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology for travel expenses related to being a board member; and Preeclampsia Foundation for blood pressure cuffs for her institution. Tanner Wright reports funding from Duke University for a National Institutes of Health–funded project on Eating, Sleeping, Consoling for Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (ESC-NOW): a Function-Based Assessment and Management Approach; the National Institute on Drug Abuse for CADENCE (Continuous and Data-driven Care); the American Academy of Pediatrics for work as a subject matter expert on maternal–infant health and opioid use; and the National Advanced Practice and Low Risk Neonatal Nurses Conferences for presentations on neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. No other potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.