Drug screening during pregnancy: Urine dip cups measure up

Emily B Kroska; Elizabeth W Meller; Rena Doyle; Jessica L Coker; Bettina T Knight; Shona L Ray-Griffith; Wendy N Nembhard; Zachary N Stowe

doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.04.032

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Drug screening during pregnancy: Urine dip cups measure up

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Drug screening during pregnancy: Urine dip cups measure up

Emily B Kroska, Elizabeth W Meller, Rena Doyle, Jessica L Coker, Bettina T Knight, Shona L Ray-Griffith, Wendy N Nembhard and Zachary N Stowe

Drug and alcohol dependence, Vol.204, pp.107461-107461

11/01/2019

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.04.032

PMID: 31521952

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Abstract

•Maternal perinatal substance use can have severe consequences for the fetus.•Commonly used screening methodologies may be incomprehensive or inadequate.•The study compared hospital-based laboratory screening to a urine dip cup.•The dip cup was comparable in accuracy and more cost-effective.•The dip cup may be an efficient, sensitive addition to patient care during pregnancy. Substance use during pregnancy is a major medical and public health concern. Determination of the most appropriate screening protocol remains a clinical conundrum. Interviews and/or laboratory drug screens may be costly, inaccurate, and are frequently inadequate to identify patterns of substance use for a given population or geographic area. We compared commercially available urine “dip cup” toxicology screens obtained in the clinic to university hospital drug toxicology results. 267 observed urine samples were collected from pregnant women with known substance use disorders enrolled in a specialized treatment program that included access to buprenorphine medication-assisted treatment. Each urine sample was tested by commercial dip cup with temperature confirmation and then sent to the university hospital laboratory for analyses. The number of substances detected and cost for each screening method were compared. Uniformly, the dip cup had comparable detection of amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine, methadone, opiates, and tetrahydrocannabinol to the university hospital laboratory with the exception of benzodiazepines. In addition, the dip cup detected use of buprenorphine (a commonly misused opiate receptor ligand not included in the hospital screen) and was significantly less expensive. Commercially available urine dip cups are cost-effective, equally comparable to hospital based screening, and provide ‘real time’ results germane to clinical care and treatment planning.

Fetal development

Pregnancy

Substance use

Urine drug screening

Details

Title: Subtitle: Drug screening during pregnancy: Urine dip cups measure up
Creators: Emily B Kroska - Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Elizabeth W Meller - Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Rena Doyle - Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Jessica L Coker - Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
Bettina T Knight - Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
Shona L Ray-Griffith - Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
Wendy N Nembhard - Department of Epidemiology, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
Zachary N Stowe - Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Drug and alcohol dependence, Vol.204, pp.107461-107461
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.04.032
PMID: 31521952
NLM abbreviation: Drug Alcohol Depend
ISSN: 0376-8716
eISSN: 1879-0046
Publisher: Elsevier B.V
Language: English
Date published: 11/01/2019
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984213396702771

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