The trend of characteristics and pattern of polysubstance co-occurrences among pregnant women: TEDS-A findings

ObjectiveThe study's objectives were (i) demonstrating the trends of sociodemographic, substance use, and clinical characteristics of pregnant women admitted to substance use treatment facilities from 2011 to 2018 and (ii) mining their patterns of association of polysubstance use.MethodsWe used the Treatment Episode Data Set - Admissions (TEDS-A) of pregnant women between 2011 and 2018. The Cochran-Armitage test was employed to test the trend, and Market Basket Analysis (MBA) was used for mining association rules to identify polysubstance use patterns.ResultsOver the years, some cohorts consistently showed majority admissions. Among these, age (30-39 years), education (12 or more years), injection as a route, and medication-assisted opioid therapy showed a significantly increasing trend. Admissions increased significantly with heroin (66%) and methamphetamine (46%) and decreased between 23% and 43% with alcohol, marijuana/hashish, cocaine/crack, other opiates/synthetics, and benzodiazepines. Basket analysis revealed some patterns of polysubstance co-occurrence consistent over the years. For instance, the co-occurrences of {alcohol, marijuana/hashish} or {methamphetamine, marijuana/hashish} were the most common.ConclusionsThe findings on trends and long-run polysubstance use patterns may help to find pregnant women's most vulnerable cohorts for effective interventions to minimize the health risk for them and their fetuses.