# Postpartum Opioid Related Mortality in Medicaid Patients

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2020 · $268,441

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 With rising rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnancy, overdose and other complications of OUD
have become an increasingly important source of maternal mortality. The postpartum period is a time of
particular vulnerability for overdose and other causes of OUD related mortality, but the causes and risk factors
for this have not been fully elucidated. Opioid use relapse during the postpartum period may be due to the
stresses of new motherhood, loss of insurance, discontinuation of OUD treatment, and opioid analgesic
exposure at the time of delivery leading to persistent opioid use and misuse, but data are few. Further, women
with OUD may also be particularly vulnerable to other causes of death during the postpartum period including
obstetrical complications, suicide, and homicide. There is a need to systematically identify modifiable risk
factors that can be the focus of policy and quality improvement initiatives
 Our group has pioneered the use of pregnancy cohorts nested in the nationwide Medicaid Analytic
eXtract (MAX) database to study the safety of medications in pregnancy. The MAX is derived from healthcare
utilization claims submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from all states and Washington,
DC. The MAX contains information on patient demographics, inpatient and outpatient diagnoses and
procedures, and filled outpatient prescriptions. In the proposed study, we will link the MAX with the National
Death Index (NDI), which contains information derived from death certificates including the cause of death.
 We will then use the linked MAX-NDI database to study the frequency, timing, causes, and risk factors
for overdose death and non-overdose deaths in women with OUD. We have assembled an experienced
team with extensive expertise in epidemiology, causal inference, substance use disorder, and obstetrics
to create this data resource and carry out the proposed Aims. This will not only provide new insight into
the epidemiology of overdose and OUD related postpartum death, but also create a powerful new data
resource to study maternal mortality generally.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10197601
- **Project number:** 3R01DA049822-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Brian Thomas Bateman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $268,441
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10197601

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10197601, Postpartum Opioid Related Mortality in Medicaid Patients (3R01DA049822-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10197601. Licensed CC0.

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