SynthesisAddiction (Abingdon, England)2016
Buprenorphine compared with methadone to treat pregnant women with opioid use disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of safety in the mother, fetus and child.
Synthesis in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 233 citations in OpenAlex.
- The comparative effects of prenatal exposure to methadone versus buprenorphine for opioid use disorder on neonatal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- 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 State Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment Laws Effective During 2022: Counseling, Dosage, and Visit Frequency Requirements.Substance use & addiction journal · 2024Pooled it
- Maintenance agonist treatments for opiate-dependent pregnant women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Global patterns of opioid use and dependence: harms to populations, interventions, and future action.Lancet (London, England) · 2019Pooled it
- Supporting breastfeeding for women on opioid maintenance therapy: a systematic review.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2019Pooled it
- Childhood neurodevelopment after prescription of maintenance methadone for opioid dependency in pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Developmental medicine and child neurology · 2019Pooled it
- Management of opioid use disorders: a national clinical practice guideline.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2018Guideline
- Guideline
- Buprenorphine compared with methadone to treat pregnant women with opioid use disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of safety in the mother, fetus and child.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2016Pooled it
- A Novel 4D Ultrasound Parenting Intervention for Substance Using Pregnant Women in Finland: Participation in Obstetric Care, Fetal Drug Exposure, and Perinatal Outcomes in a Randomized Controlled Trial.Maternal and child health journal · 2020Trial
- Prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine: Early childhood developmental outcomes.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Trial
- Outcomes in offspring of interventions to treat substance use in pregnancy: protocol for an umbrella review.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Effects of prenatal methadone and buprenorphine exposure on motivated responding for sucrose and gene expression in adult male and female rats.Addiction neuroscience · 2026Article
- Opioid use disorder and medication for opioid use disorder among pregnant women with commercial insurance in the United States, 2016-2020.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Research Waste, Redundancy and the Rise of the Machines: The Questionable Future of Systematic Reviews.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Postpartum retention in opioid agonist treatment for opioid dependence: A population-based cohort study.Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Pharmacogenetic exploration of buprenorphine and related metabolites in umbilical cord blood.Toxicology reports · 2025Article
- Growth patterns in children with prenatal methadone or buprenorphine exposure.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Medication for Opioid Use Disorder and Treatment Retention Among Pregnant Individuals.JAMA network open · 2025Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsTo assess the safety of buprenorphine compared with methadone to treat pregnant women with opioid use disorder.
methodsWe searched PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library from inception to February 2015 for randomized controlled trials (RCT) and observational cohort studies (OBS) that compared buprenorphine with methadone for treating opioid-dependent pregnant women. Two reviewers assessed independently the titles and abstracts of all search results and full texts of potentially eligible studies reporting original data for maternal/fetal/infant death, preterm birth, fetal growth outcomes, fetal/congenital anomalies, fetal/child neurodevelopment and/or maternal adverse events. We ascertained each study's risk of bias using validated instruments and assessed the strength of evidence for each outcome using established methods. We computed effect sizes using random-effects models for each outcome with two or more studies.
resultsThree RCTs (n = 223) and 15 cohort OBSs (n = 1923) met inclusion criteria. In meta-analyses using unadjusted data and methadone as comparator, buprenorphine was associated with lower risk of preterm birth [RCT risk ratio (RR) = 0.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.18, 0.91; OBS RR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.50, 0.90], greater birth weight [RCT weighted mean difference (WMD) = 277 g, 95% CI = 104, 450; OBS WMD = 265 g, 95% CI = 196, 335] and larger head circumference [RCT WMD = 0.90 cm, 95% CI = 0.14, 1.66; OBS WMD = 0.68 cm, 95% CI = 0.41, 0.94]. No treatment differences were observed for spontaneous fetal death, fetal/congenital anomalies and other fetal growth measures, although the power to detect such differences may be inadequate due to small sample sizes.
conclusionsModerately strong evidence indicates lower risk of preterm birth, greater birth weight and larger head circumference with buprenorphine treatment of maternal opioid use disorder during pregnancy compared with methadone treatment, and no greater harms.
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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.