This paper speculates that opioid exposure during gestation and
development of NAS at birth, which is well known to be associated
with gastrointestinal distress, may lead to a dysbiotic gut microbiome.
This dysbiosis may impair normal microbiome succession
and development, and impact later health of these children. This
deserves careful study at several layers of investigation, from the
molecular to the clinical to the epidemiological level.