A Wearable Device for Objective Measurement of Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms in Newborns

More and more newborn babies are exposed to opioids in the womb and experience withdrawal symptoms at birthProperly diagnosing and treating patients is difficultnot all newborns that are at risk actually experience these withdrawal symptoms and require treatmentDiagnosis is affected by the experiencetrainingand opinion of the clinical staffBecause of the subjective nature of these assessmentssome infants do not get the proper carewhile others are treated unnecessarilyleading to longer hospital staysThe aim of this effort is to develop a device capable of objectively assessing the symptoms of opioid withdrawal in newbornsWe propose to develop a device that is safe and comfortable to wear and will continually monitor cryingsleepingbody temperature fluctuationsand tremorsThis device will operate without intervention for ahour period and will wirelessly communicate results to a mobile tablet applicationThe Creare team is very well qualified to develop and commercialize this device by leveraging hardware and software that Creare has previously developedAs a result of this effortthe variability in diagnosis and treatment of this vulnerable population will be reduced and it will potentially reduce the economic impact on state sponsored Medicaid programs