--- title: NAS Drug Withdrawal Symptoms in Babies: Numbers Growing, Study Says description: A new study shows that the number of infants born in the U.S. with drug withdrawal symptoms nearly doubled from 2009 to 2012. canonical: https://time.com/3841672/babies-drug-withdrawal/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-30T14:46:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:39.110Z article:section: Health og:title: Growing Number of Babies Have Drug Withdrawal Symptoms og:description: The percentage of U.S. babies with drug withdrawal nearly doubled from 2009-12 og:url: https://time.com/3841672/babies-drug-withdrawal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Growing Number of Babies Have Drug Withdrawal Symptoms twitter:description: The percentage of U.S. babies with drug withdrawal nearly doubled from 2009-12 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Growing Number of Babies Have Drug Withdrawal Symptoms, Study Shows > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=b6eb0ebf-597d-47c0-9a10-f53ab51ab7ae&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Science Cop: How Anti-Vaxxers Put Everyone at Risk [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: How Anti-Vaxxers Put Everyone at Risk](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ai82XWJ8.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2014-09-24. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the misinformation coming from opponents of childhood vaccinations_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 30, 2015 2:46 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Apr 30, 2015 2:46 PM UTC The number of infants born in the U.S. with drug withdrawal symptoms is growing rapidly, a new study shows. The percentage of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), which has been linked to illegal drug or prescription opioid use in pregnant women, nearly doubled between 2009 and 2012, according to [a Vanderbilt study](http://www.nature.com/jp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/jp201536a.html) published in the _Journal of Perinatology_. By 2012, one infant was born every 25 minutes with the syndrome, leading to $1.5 billion in yearly health care charges, the study found. Through examining data from the Kids’ Inpatient Database and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, the study found that the occurrence of NAS in the U.S. rose from 3.4 births per 1,000 to 5.8 births per 1,000 between 2009 and 2012. The study also found that NAS rates varied across the country. “The rise in neonatal abstinence syndrome mirrors the rise we have seen in opioid pain reliever use across the nation. Our study finds that communities hardest hit by opioid use and their complications, like overdose death, have the highest rates of the NAS,” lead author Stephen Patrick, assistant professor of pediatrics and health policy in the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, said in [a press release](http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2015/04/babies-born-with-drug-withdrawal-symptoms-on-rise/). The area with the highest rate of NAS in 2012, 16.2 births per 1,000, was the region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. William Cooper, Cornelius Vanderbilt professor of pediatrics and health policy and the senior author for the study, called the rise of NAS “a growing public health problem.” Being born with NAS makes infants more likely to have respiratory problems, difficulty feeding, seizures and low birth weight. ## Transcript So, our recent report claimed that a 2004 study withheld a link between vaccines and autism in African American boys. No surprise, the anti- vaccine crowd considered this a big win. But again and always, they're wrong. Here's why. [ MUSIC ] First, the subjects excluded from the study had no birth certificates available. Meaning data on their mother's age, race and more could not be confirmed. And that information was vital for the work the investigators were doing, More important, the people criticizing the research make the familiar mistake of confusing associated with causation. While it's true that the study did find a slightly higher rate of autism among some kids vaccinated between 24 and 36 months of age, it's almost certain that those children were already autistic and were vaccinated later as part of a basic health requirement for attending special education program [ MUSIC ] programs. If you join the Army and get a mandatory crewcut before basic training, you don't then conclude that military service causes baldness. Finally, the narrator of a disgraceful web video spreading the rumors about the study is Andrew Wakefield. The British researcher whose fraudulent 1998 paper falsely linking vaccines to autism got the entire got the entire anti- vaccine mess started. Wakefield has had his license to practice medicine revoked in the UK. And is hardly in a position to be offering opinions on anything at all. So for the billionth time, vaccines are safe, effective and vitally important. Rumor mongering, on the other hand, can kill. 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