Drug-dependent babies' numbers rise dramatically

Several programs have been launched in response to the escalating number of drug-addicted babies born in northwest Ohio, triggered by the high rate of opioid addiction in the region. ProMedica Toledo Hospital and Toledo Children’s Hospital have seen more than a 90-fold increase over the past 8 years in the number of babies discharged with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The average number of babies born with NAS at ProMedica Toledo Hospital, for example, increased from 2 in 2007 to 187 in 2015.