Clinical trial NCT00271219: RCT Comparing Methadone and Buprenorphine in Pregnant Women
Official title: Maternal Opioid Treatment: Human Experimental Research
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE3
Conditions: Opioid Related Disorders
Pregnancy
Opioid Dependence
Keywords: opiate addiction
opiate dependence
substance abuse
addiction
substance addiction
pregnancy
buprenorphine
methadone
fetal
neonatal
post-partum
Lead sponsor: Johns Hopkins University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
First posted: 2005-12-30
Enrollment: 175
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 41
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Children born to women who abuse drugs have a high risk of being born with birth defects and developmental problems. Methadone is a drug that is commonly used for treating opioid dependence. However, its use by a pregnant woman can cause severe withdrawal symptoms in a newborn because of the prenatal exposure. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of buprenorphine, another drug, versus methadone in reducing withdrawal symptoms in children born to opioid-dependent women.

Detailed description: Women who use drugs during pregnancy place their unborn children at high risk for being born addicted to drugs. Such children may also be born with birth defects and may experience learning and behavioral problems. Methadone, a synthetic narcotic, is commonly prescribed to treat opioid addiction. It may not be an optimal solution for opioid-dependent pregnant women, however, because a large percentage of children born to women taking methadone experience severe drug withdrawal symptoms at birth that often require medical treatment. Common opioid withdrawal symptoms, described as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in babies, include tremors, irritability, sleep problems, seizures, dehydration, and fever. Buprenorphine is a medication that has been approved to treat opioid dependence in individuals who are not pregnant but has not been approved for pregnant individuals. Past research has shown that use of buprenorphine in pregnant women results in improved birth outcomes over methadone. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of buprenorphine versus methadone at reducing opioid withdrawal symptoms in babies born to opioid-dependent women.

This study will enroll opioid-dependent pregnant women who are 13 to 30 weeks pregnant and will follow each woman and her child throughout the pregnancy until 6 weeks postpartum. All participants will undergo an initial screening that will last several hours. Participants will then be randomly assigned to receive either methadone or buprenorphine on a daily basis, and will be required to visit the clinic each day to receive their medication. Outcome measurements will be assessed at weekly study visits throughout the pregnancy, and will include drug use, HIV risk behaviors, medication dose adequacy and safety, treatment retention, and psychosocial functioning. Urine samples will be collected 3 times a week, and blood will be drawn throughout the pregnancy for safety monitoring. Outcome measurements related to the baby will include head circumference measurement, length of hospital stay, severity and frequency of withdrawal symptoms, and amount of medication needed to control withdrawal symptoms.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Current opioid dependence
* Current opioid use, as determined by a urine drug test
* Pregnant with a single child with a gestational age of 6 to 30 weeks, as determined by a sonogram

Exclusion Criteria:

* Current medical condition that would make study participation dangerous, as determined by study physician
* Diagnosed with an acute, severe psychiatric illness
* Current SCID I-E module diagnosis of benzodiazepine or alcohol abuse
* Use of alcohol or benzodiazepines in the 30 days prior to study entry, as determined by the Addiction Severity Index
* Pending legal action that may prohibit or interfere with study participation

Primary outcomes:
measure: Child's Head Circumference Measurement (Measured at Birth)
timeFrame: birth
measure: Child's Length of Hospital Stay
timeFrame: delivery until hospital discharge (min=2 days, max=79 days)
measure: Number of Children Requiring Treatment for Neonatal Abstinence Signs (NAS)
timeFrame: From birth until hospital discharge (min=4 days, max=10, depending on site)
measure: Child's Peak Daily Total NAS Score
timeFrame: minimum twice daily from birth until NAS no longer measured (min=10 days)
measure: Total Amount of Morphine Sulfate That a Neonate Receives to Treat NAS
timeFrame: Start of NAS treatment until discontinuation of NAS treatment (min=0 days, max=76 days)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Mother's Self-report of Drug Use (Measured Monthly by Time Line Follow Back)
timeFrame: monthly from study entry until discontinuation or delivery (min=29 days, max=239 days)
measure: Mother's HIV Risk Behaviors (Measured Monthly by Risk Behavior Assessment)
timeFrame: monthly from study entry until discontinuation or delivery (min=29 days, max=239 days)
measure: Mother's Measures of Dose Adequacy and Acceptance Over Time (Measured Weekly by Dose Adequacy Measure)
timeFrame: from study entry until discontinuation or delivery (min=29 days, max=239 days)
measure: Mother's Psychosocial Functioning at Delivery as Measured by the Addiction Severity Index Psychosocial Index Score
timeFrame: at delivery
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Baltimore
country: United States
facility: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
state: Maryland
city: Detroit
country: United States
facility: Wayne State University
state: Michigan
city: Philadelphia
country: United States
facility: Thomas Jefferson University
state: Pennsylvania
city: Providence
country: United States
facility: Brown University
state: Rhode Island
city: Nashville
country: United States
facility: Vanderbilt University
state: Tennessee
city: Burlington
country: United States
facility: University of Vermont
state: Vermont
city: Vienna
country: Austria
facility: Medical University of Vienna
city: Toronto
country: Canada
facility: St. Joseph's Health Centre
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: Johns Hopkins University
name: Hendree E. Jones, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Jones HE, Kaltenbach K, Heil SH, Stine SM, Coyle MG, Arria AM, O'Grady KE, Selby P, Martin PR. Nonserious adverse events in randomized trials with opioid-dependent pregnant women: direct versus indirect measurement. Am J Addict. 2012 Nov;21 Suppl 1:S1-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1521-0391.2012.00289.x.
citation: Holbrook AM, Jones HE, Heil SH, Martin PR, Stine SM, Fischer G, Coyle MG, Kaltenbach K. Induction of pregnant women onto opioid-agonist maintenance medication: an analysis of withdrawal symptoms and study retention. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Sep 1;132(1-2):329-34. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.02.031. Epub 2013 Mar 21.
citation: Jones HE, Heil SH, Tuten M, Chisolm MS, Foster JM, O'Grady KE, Kaltenbach K. Cigarette smoking in opioid-dependent pregnant women: neonatal and maternal outcomes. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Aug 1;131(3):271-7. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.11.019. Epub 2012 Dec 29.
citation: McNicholas LF, Holbrook AM, O'Grady KE, Jones HE, Coyle MG, Martin PR, Heil SH, Stine SM, Kaltenbach K. Effect of hepatitis C virus status on liver enzymes in opioid-dependent pregnant women maintained on opioid-agonist medication. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):91-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04043.x.
citation: Holbrook AM, Baxter JK, Jones HE, Heil SH, Coyle MG, Martin PR, Stine SM, Kaltenbach K. Infections and obstetric outcomes in opioid-dependent pregnant women maintained on methadone or buprenorphine. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):83-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04042.x.
citation: Benningfield MM, Dietrich MS, Jones HE, Kaltenbach K, Heil SH, Stine SM, Coyle MG, Arria AM, O'Grady KE, Fischer G, Martin PR. Opioid dependence during pregnancy: relationships of anxiety and depression symptoms to treatment outcomes. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):74-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04041.x.
citation: Coyle MG, Salisbury AL, Lester BM, Jones HE, Lin H, Graf-Rohrmeister K, Fischer G. Neonatal neurobehavior effects following buprenorphine versus methadone exposure. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):63-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04040.x.
citation: Gaalema DE, Scott TL, Heil SH, Coyle MG, Kaltenbach K, Badger GJ, Arria AM, Stine SM, Martin PR, Jones HE. Differences in the profile of neonatal abstinence syndrome signs in methadone- versus buprenorphine-exposed neonates. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):53-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04039.x.
citation: Kaltenbach K, Holbrook AM, Coyle MG, Heil SH, Salisbury AL, Stine SM, Martin PR, Jones HE. Predicting treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome in infants born to women maintained on opioid agonist medication. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):45-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04038.x.
citation: Salisbury AL, Coyle MG, O'Grady KE, Heil SH, Martin PR, Stine SM, Kaltenbach K, Weninger M, Jones HE. Fetal assessment before and after dosing with buprenorphine or methadone. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):36-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04037.x.
citation: Jones HE, Fischer G, Heil SH, Kaltenbach K, Martin PR, Coyle MG, Selby P, Stine SM, O'Grady KE, Arria AM. Maternal Opioid Treatment: Human Experimental Research (MOTHER)--approach, issues and lessons learned. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):28-35. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04036.x.
citation: Jones HE, Heil SH, Baewert A, Arria AM, Kaltenbach K, Martin PR, Coyle MG, Selby P, Stine SM, Fischer G. Buprenorphine treatment of opioid-dependent pregnant women: a comprehensive review. Addiction. 2012 Nov;107 Suppl 1(0 1):5-27. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.04035.x.
citation: Unger A, Jagsch R, Bawert A, Winklbaur B, Rohrmeister K, Martin PR, Coyle M, Fischer G. Are male neonates more vulnerable to neonatal abstinence syndrome than female neonates? Gend Med. 2011 Dec;8(6):355-64. doi: 10.1016/j.genm.2011.10.001. Epub 2011 Nov 15.
citation: Jones HE, Kaltenbach K, Heil SH, Stine SM, Coyle MG, Arria AM, O'Grady KE, Selby P, Martin PR, Fischer G. Neonatal abstinence syndrome after methadone or buprenorphine exposure. N Engl J Med. 2010 Dec 9;363(24):2320-31. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1005359.