Canadian perinatal opioid project: a protocol for a national health data system

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Health Data Science

Background:

• Opioid use during pregnancy poses risks to parents and children, yet long-term health effects in Canada remain understudied.
• There is a critical need for evidence to guide optimal support for maternal and child health following perinatal opioid exposure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the Canadian Perinatal Opioid Project, a national data system for tracking perinatal opioid exposures.
• To link these exposures with subsequent maternal and child health outcomes across Canada.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing population-based administrative health records from five Canadian provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan) from 2013-2023.
• Establishing cohorts of pregnancies and liveborn infants, with follow-up periods of 1 year for parents and 8 years for infants.
• Integrating data from prescription records, hospitalizations, emergency visits, physician visits, birth registries, and vital statistics.

Main Results:

• Descriptive statistics will characterize incidence and cohort features.
• Poisson regression will analyze annual trends in perinatal opioid exposure and outcomes.
• Patient-level analyses within provinces will be aggregated and meta-analyzed for national insights.

Conclusions:

• The Canadian Perinatal Opioid Project will provide crucial data on the health impacts of perinatal opioid exposure.
• Findings will inform public health policies and interventions to improve care for affected families.
• Dissemination through publications, conferences, and an open-access dashboard will ensure broad accessibility of research findings.