Observational studyEye (London, England)2024
Impaired vision in children prenatally exposed to methadone: an observational cohort study.
Observational study in Eye (London, England), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03603301 (Vision in Children Born to Opioid-dependent Methadone-maintained Mothers), which is not on this map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Vision in Children Born to Opioid-dependent Methadone-maintained Mothers
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal opioid exposure, and health, social and educational outcomes for school-aged children: A systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Pooled it
- A Scoping Review of Non-Opioid Therapeutics for Opioid Withdrawal: Translational Relevance to Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS) Research.Clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Article
- Recommended practices for vision screening in pre-school-age children: A 2025 update.Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry · 2025Review
- Call to Action: Standardizing Follow-Up Care for Infants Prenatally Exposed to Opioids.Hospital pediatrics · 2025Article
- Opioid receptor signaling throughout ontogeny: Shaping neural and behavioral trajectories.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesTo examine prevalence of failed visual assessment at 8-10 years in children born to methadone-maintained opioid dependent (MMOD) mothers and relate this to known in utero substance exposure. SUBJECTS/
methodsFollow up of observational cohort study of methadone-exposed and comparison children matched for birthweight, gestation and postcode of residence at birth. Participants were 144 children (98 exposed, 46 comparison). Prenatal drug exposure was previously established via comprehensive maternal and neonatal toxicology. Children were invited to attend for visual assessment and casenotes were reviewed. Presence of acuity poorer than 0.2 logMAR, strabismus, nystagmus and/or impaired stereovision constituted a 'fail'. Fail rates were compared between methadone-exposed and comparison children after adjusting for known confounding variables.
results33 children attended in person: data were also derived from casenote review for all children. After controlling for maternal reported tobacco use, methadone-exposed children were more likely to have a visual 'fail' outcome, adjusted odds ratio 2.6, 95% CI 1.1-6.2; adjusted relative risk 1.8 (95% CI 1.1-3.4). Visual 'fail' outcome rates did not differ between methadone-exposed children who had (n = 47) or had not (n = 51) received pharmacological treatment for neonatal abstinence/opioid withdrawal syndrome (NAS/NOWS); fail rate 62% vs 53% (95% CI of difference-11-27%).
conclusionsChildren born to MMOD mothers are almost twice as likely as unexposed peers to have significant visual abnormalities at primary school age. Prenatal methadone exposure should be considered in the differential diagnosis of nystagmus. Findings support visual assessment prior to school entry for children with any history of prenatal opioid exposure.
trial registrationThe study was prospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03603301), https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03603301 .
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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.