More pregnant women in the American pot

By Lisa Rapaport

(Reuters Health) – While smoking and alcohol use continues to decline among pregnant women in the United States, a new study provides new evidence that more US mothers are using cannabis during pregnancy.

Other recent studies have also highlighted an increase in cannabis use among pregnant women of all ages, with evidence of a particularly strong increase in adolescent girls and young adults. For this study, researchers analyzed the proportion of pregnant women who consumed alcohol, tobacco or cannabis from 2002 to 2016.

Overall, the probabilities that pregnant women use cannabis increased by 3% per year during the study period, researchers reported in JAMA Pediatrics. The increases were observed only in the first trimester and were most pronounced for women aged 26 to 44 with at least a high school diploma.

During the same period, the probability that pregnant women consume alcohol decreased by 2% per year and that of cigarettes by 3% per year.

"Our findings remind us that if we do decent work to discourage pregnant women from consuming alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy, the message regarding the potential adverse effects of cannabis exposure during pregnancy on the development of the fetus is not released, "said the main study. author Arpana Agrawal of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington in St. Louis.

According to the study, the proportion of pregnant women using cannabis rose from less than 3% in 2002 to nearly 5% by 2016.

During this period, the proportion of pregnant women consuming alcohol dropped from about 10% to about 8%, and the proportion of people using cigarettes increased from about 18% to around 10%.

The study can not prove that cannabis, alcohol or tobacco has an impact on the health of pregnant women or their babies, nor explain why cannabis use has increased while the use of cannabis has increased. use of other substances had decreased.

"It is possible that strong public health messages regarding the potential adverse effects of exposure to tobacco and alcohol during pregnancy have prevented women from using them," Agrawal said via e-mail.

Physicians could also place greater emphasis on the need to warn women of alcohol and cigarette consumption during pregnancy, as these habits are more common than the use of cannabis or other drugs, said Agrawal.

"It is also possible that cannabis use is increasingly perceived with permissiveness or that it may be prescribed as a drug in some states, there could be a misunderstanding that it is safe to use it during pregnancy, "added Agrawal.

Some women may have heard that cannabis helps relieve pregnancy-related nausea, she noted. But most research linking cannabis to the reduction of nausea symptoms has involved cancer patients with side effects of chemotherapy and not pregnant women with morning sickness.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists discourages physicians from prescribing or suggesting the use of marijuana for medical purposes while women are trying to conceive, become pregnant, or breastfeed their baby.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2F2iXzQ JAMA Pediatrics, online November 5, 2018.