ArticleThe Canadian journal of hospital pharmacy2012
Dosing and monitoring of methadone in pregnancy: literature review.
Article in The Canadian journal of hospital pharmacy, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- A systematic review of pregnancy-related clinical intervention of drug regimens due to pharmacokinetic reasons.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Guideline
- Pharmacometric modeling of opioid disposition in pregnancy: a systematic review of PopPK and PBPK approaches, model limitations, and future directions.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Probiotic supplementation mitigates sex-dependent nociceptive changes and gut dysbiosis induced by prenatal opioid exposure.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Opioid receptor signaling throughout ontogeny: Shaping neural and behavioral trajectories.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Methadone directly impairs central nervous system cells in vitro.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Babywearing Reduces Urges to Use Substances in the Postpartum Period Among Mothers With OUDs.Substance use & misuse · 2024Article
- Initiation and rapid titration of methadone and slow-release oral morphine (SROM) in an acute care, inpatient setting: a case series.European journal of medical research · 2023Article
- Opioid Agonist Therapies and Pregnancy Outcomes for Pregnant People With Opioid Use Disorder: Protocol for a Systematic Review.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Pharmacokinetics of Cannabis and Its Derivatives in Animals and Humans During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
- Prenatal opioid exposure: The next neonatal neuroinflammatory disease.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2020Article
- Risk Factors Associated with the Occurrence of Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome: A Review.CNS drugs · 2019Review
- Review
- A woman's experience of tapering from buprenorphine during pregnancy.BMJ case reports · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe pharmacokinetics of methadone is altered during pregnancy, but the most appropriate dosing and monitoring regimen has yet to be identified.
objectiveTo review dosing and monitoring of methadone therapy in pregnancy.
methodsA literature search was performed in several databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) from inception to May 2012. The search terms were "methadone", "pregnancy", "pharmacokinetic", "clearance", "metabolism", "therapeutic drug monitoring", and "methadone dosing". Additional papers were identified by searching the bibliographies of primary and review articles. All English-language primary articles related to methadone pharmacokinetics in pregnancy were included. Articles not related to maternal outcomes were excluded.
resultsThe literature search yielded 1 case report and 10 studies discussing use of methadone by pregnant women. Methadone pharmacokinetics in pregnancy has been studied in 3 pharmacokinetic trials, and split dosing of methadone in pregnant women has been described in 1 case report and 3 dosing trials. Only 4 trials evaluated monitoring of methadone concentration in pregnancy. The studies included in this review confirm that methadone pharmacokinetics is altered in pregnancy and is potentially correlated with increases in maternal withdrawal symptoms. Insufficient evidence is available to warrant routine monitoring of serum methadone concentrations in pregnant women with opioid dependence.
conclusionsFew studies of methadone pharmacokinetics and therapeutic drug monitoring are available for pregnant women with opioid dependence. Although it is known that methadone pharmacokinetics is altered in pregnancy, there is insufficient evidence to guide dosage adjustments and serum concentration monitoring. Until further studies are available, regular follow-up of maternal withdrawal symptoms and empiric dosage adjustments throughout pregnancy are still recommended.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.