ABSTRACT
Psychoactive bath salts (PABS) comprise a group of highly dangerous designer drugs showing a sharp escalation in reported U.S. exposures from 2010 through 2012, following rapid spread of the drug in Europe. Since a federal ban on the major ingredients in October 2011, numbers have declined. However, evidence from the United Kingdom shows an initial decline after the UK ban in 2010 with a 400 percent increase in reports by 2012. Actual information about the effect of PABS use on pregnant women and fetuses is almost nonexistent. Clinicians should be aware of the potential maternal, fetal and neonatal effects of PABS.
Subject(s)
Designer Drugs/toxicity , Pregnancy/drug effects , Psychotropic Drugs/toxicity , Designer Drugs/chemistry , Drug and Narcotic Control , Female , Fetus/drug effects , Humans , Maternal-Fetal Exchange , Methamphetamine/analogs & derivatives , Methamphetamine/chemistry , Methamphetamine/toxicity , Nursing Assessment , Psychotropic Drugs/chemistry , Substance-Related Disorders/etiology , Substance-Related Disorders/nursingSubject(s)
Maternal-Child Nursing/organization & administration , Nurse's Role , Nursing Assessment/organization & administration , Obstetric Labor, Premature/diagnosis , Obstetric Labor, Premature/therapy , Cost of Illness , Female , Humans , Obstetric Labor, Premature/epidemiology , Patient Education as Topic , Pregnancy , Prevalence , Risk Assessment , Risk Factors , Risk Reduction Behavior , Tocolytic Agents , United States/epidemiology , Uterine Contraction/drug effects , Uterine Contraction/physiologyABSTRACT
High-risk pregnancies affect a significant number of women each year. Limited information exists on how these women appraise the risk to their pregnancy. This descriptive study of expectant women who were medically categorized as high risk examined differences in women's self-appraisal of risk to themselves and their babies, based on hospitalization history, and differences among risk appraisals made by women and their health care providers. Women who were currently hospitalized had significantly lower self-appraised mother risk scores than both the women who were previously hospitalized and those never hospitalized. Women who were never hospitalized had significantly lower self-appraised baby risk scores than the women in both the currently and previously hospitalized groups. Women who were previously hospitalized scored highest on self-appraised risk to mother and risk to baby. Women reported significantly lower self-appraised risk to mother scores than their nurses.
