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Jun 5, 2025  |  
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Sean Salai


NextImg:Opioid prescriptions surged among new moms in COVID lockdown

New mothers who gave birth after March 2020 received “more potent and more frequent opioid prescriptions” within six months than those who had children before COVID-19 lockdowns, a new study found.

A team of five researchers published the study Monday in JAMA Network Open, examining the records of 460,371 privately insured mothers who gave birth to a single newborn from July 2018 to December 2020. It warns of a possible surge in opioid addictions among new moms who may have abused painkillers to numb unpleasant feelings during the lockdowns.

“This potential for misuse was compounded during COVID-19, as the isolation and stressors of the pandemic may have been associated with women misusing opioids as a coping mechanism,” the researchers wrote.

The study found that opioid fill rates were 2.8 percentage points higher from March to December 2020 — after officials nationwide issued stay-at-home orders — than during the previous three years.

The mean of daily morphine-equivalent prescription fills was 1.7 percentage points higher; the rate of opioid prescriptions filled for every 100 moms was 4.6 percentage points higher; and the prescription rate of schedule II opioids was 2.8 percentage points higher than pre-existing trends.

The surge in prescriptions put young mothers at “increased risk of opioid misuse, opioid use disorder, and opioid-related overdose” during lockdowns through the end of December 2020, the researchers said.

The number and potency of opioid prescriptions were higher among women who delivered through a cesarean section than those who did not.

According to the study, further research must show whether opioid prescriptions after childbirth have continued rising since December 2020. That could signal a spike in the number of new moms addicted to painkillers, the researchers noted.

“Our findings are particularly concerning given that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the effects of the US opioid crisis,” they said. “Monthly opioid-related overdose deaths sharply increased after the March 23, 2020, stay-at-home order. In addition, opioid-related overdose deaths reached an all-time high during the pandemic, surpassing 100 000 annually.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.