Marijuana Use on the Rise Among Pregnant Women

Marijuana use amongst pregnant girls within the U.S. elevated by 62 p.c from 2002 to 2014, a brand new examine finds.

Researchers discovered that three.9 p.c of pregnant girls reported on a 2014 authorities survey that that they had used marijuana through the previous month, up from 2.four p.c who mentioned the identical on a 2002 survey, in response to the examine.

Though this three.9 p.c fee "just isn't excessive, the will increase over time and potential hostile penalties of prenatal marijuana publicity recommend additional monitoring and analysis are warranted," the researchers, led by Qiana Brown, an epidemiologist at Columbia College's Mailman Faculty of Public Well being in New York Metropolis, wrote of their report. [7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Babies]

Almost four million girls gave delivery within the U.S. in 2014, in response to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

People typically have been utilizing extra marijuana since 2001, in response to the examine, which was printed immediately (Dec. 19) as a analysis letter within the journal JAMA. Certainly, earlier analysis has proven that between 2001 and 2013, marijuana use amongst adults greater than doubled, in response to the report.

Nevertheless, it was unclear if marijuana use additionally modified in pregnant and nonpregnant girls of reproductive age. 

Within the new examine, the researchers checked out knowledge on greater than 200,000 girls ages 18 to 44 who had accomplished the Nationwide Survey on Drug Use and Well being from 2002 by way of 2014. The annual survey on drug use contains questions in regards to the members' drug use within the earlier month. About 5 p.c of the ladies (or roughly 10,500 girls) had been pregnant once they had been surveyed.

Except for the general fee of use, the researchers additionally checked out how the speed of use various throughout age teams. They discovered that the speed of marijuana use was larger amongst girls ages 18 to 25 than it was in girls ages 26 to 44. In 2014, the speed of past-month marijuana use for girls within the youthful age group was 7.5 p.c, in contrast with 2.1 p.c for the ladies within the older group, the researchers discovered.

For nonpregnant girls of reproductive age, the researchers discovered that the charges of past-month marijuana use additionally elevated through the examine interval, from 6.three p.c in 2002 to 9.three p.c in 2014.

"To make sure optimum maternal and baby well being, practitioners ought to display screen and counsel pregnant girls and ladies considering being pregnant about prenatal marijuana use," the researchers wrote.

Writing in an editorial that was printed in the identical journal because the examine, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse, and two of her colleagues famous that "though the proof for the consequences of marijuana on human prenatal improvement is proscribed at this level, analysis does recommend that there's trigger for concern."

For instance, a current evaluation and meta-analysis discovered that infants born to girls who used marijuana throughout being pregnant had been extra prone to be anemic, have decrease delivery weights and require placement in neonatal intensive care than the infants of moms who didn't use marijuana, the authors wrote within the editorial.

As well as, there's a chance that marijuana may have an effect on the neurodevelopment of a fetus very early in being pregnant, in response to the editorial. Nevertheless, one problem to this analysis is separating the consequences of marijuana use throughout being pregnant from the usage of different substances, resembling alcohol and tobacco, which are sometimes used on the identical time, they wrote.

The researchers famous that there have been limitations to their examine. For instance, the researchers relied on the ladies self-reporting their marijuana use.  

Initially printed on Reside Science.

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