Integrated Perinatal and Postnatal Strategies for Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure

Edited by:

Anirudha Das, MD, Cleveland Clinic, United States

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 12 March 2026

Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Integrated Perinatal and Postnatal Strategies for Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure.

Image credit: © Oscar Wong

New Content Item This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

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Meet the Guest Editors

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Anirudha Das, MD, Cleveland Clinic, United States

Dr. Anirudha Das, MD, MPH is a neonatologist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Trained in India, and the U.S., he brings over two decades of international experience in pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine. His academic interests include health equity, neonatal outcomes, digital health, and parental engagement in the NICU. A passionate educator and innovator, Dr. Das has led multiple research initiatives on telehealth, neonatal abstinence syndrome, neonatal sepsis, and developmental outcomes, and serves as a reviewer and editor for several pediatric journals. He is also a recognized advocate for global child health through his work with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ ICATCH program.

About the Collection

As the prevalence of opioid and polysubstance use during pregnancy continues to rise globally, there is an urgent need to reframe how we support both mothers and infants affected by in utero substance exposure. This issue will spotlight innovative, multidisciplinary care models designed to optimize outcomes for neonates at risk for or diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

A special focus will be placed on integrated care approaches that span the perinatal continuum—from antenatal counseling and addiction support to postnatal management of NAS. Co-located and collaborative services involving obstetricians, addiction medicine specialists, neonatologists, mental health providers, and social workers will be highlighted for their impact on maternal engagement, breastfeeding success, and reduction in NICU length of stay. Models such as "rooming-in" and the Eat, Sleep, Console (ESC) method will be critically examined for their scalability and applicability to the population.

This issue will also explore the long-term growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes infants with prenatal substance exposure, emphasizing the confounding influence of poverty, caregiver instability, and trauma. Attention will be given to the role of early intervention services, predictors of resilience, and the pressing need for standardized follow-up protocols to support optimal cognitive, behavioral, and motor development.

By bringing together clinical innovations, public health perspectives, and developmental follow-up strategies, this issue aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of how to promote long-term well-being including optimal growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes for in this uniquely vulnerable population.

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original research and review articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal.

Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. Please, select the appropriate Collection title “Integrated Perinatal and Postnatal Strategies for Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure" under the “Details” tab during the submission stage.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer-review process. The peer-review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.