Substance use, treatment, and demographic characteristics of pregnant women entering treatment for opioid use disorder differ by United States census region

Opioid use disorder (OUD) among pregnant women increased substantially between 1992 and 2012 across the United States, with the greatest increases occurring in the southern states. We analyzed the 2013 Treatment Episodes Database-Admissions to determine how substances used, characteristics of treatment, and demographics of pregnant women entering treatment for opioid use disorder vary between geographical regions. Analyses were restricted to cases where women reported being pregnant at the time of admission and reported opioids as the primary substance problem leading to the treatment admission. Characteristics were compared between U.S. census regions using Chi-square tests and logistic regression with the South census region as the reference group. Compared to the South, pregnant women admitted for OUD treatment in other regions were 33-79% less likely to use benzodiazepines, twice as likely to be admitted to medication assisted treatment (MAT), 2-3 times more likely to use heroin, and up to 1.5 times more likely to inject drugs. Fewer women in the South reported having medical insurance, education beyond high school, and being married. There is a need in the southern U.S. for policies and treatment programs to target reducing concomitant opioid and benzodiazepine use, increasing access to, and utilization of, MAT, and increasing access to medical insurance.