Prenatal Cannabis Use and Maternal Pregnancy Outcomes
Authors' conclusion
The results of this cohort study suggest that prenatal cannabis use was associated with several adverse maternal health outcomes during pregnancy. Continued research is needed to understand whether characteristics of prenatal cannabis use (eg, dose, mode, and timing) moderate these associations.
Study context
- Population
- Pregnancies in Northern California, January 2011–December 2019, lasting ≥20 weeks and screened for prenatal cannabis use; mean (SD) age 30.6 (5.4) years250,221 unique individuals
- Participants
- 316,722 pregnancies
- Exposure
- Prenatal cannabis use vs no use
- Prenatal cannabis usen = 20,053
- Outcome
- Maternal outcomes: gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, eclampsia, GDM, gestational weight gain greater and less than guidelines, placenta previa, placental abruption, placenta accreta, severe maternal morbidity
Methodological detailsmodified Poisson regression
- Modified Poisson regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Maternal health outcomes with prenatal cannabis use
Each group vs no prenatal cannabis useEstimate (95% CI)
Prenatal cannabis use
aRR (gestational hypertension) 1.17(1.13–1.21)
Prenatal cannabis use
aRR (preeclampsia) 1.08(1.01–1.15)
Prenatal cannabis use
aRR (weight gain less than guidelines) 1.05(1.01–1.08)
Prenatal cannabis use
aRR (weight gain greater than guidelines) 1.09(1.08–1.10)
Prenatal cannabis use
aRR (placental abruption) 1.19(1.05–1.36)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Prevalence of prenatal cannabis use
- Screened positive overall
- 20 053 (6.3%)
- Positive by self-report
- 2.9%
- Positive by toxicology testing
- 5.3%
- Positive by both
- 1.8%
- Daily use
- 1930 (0.6%)
- Weekly use
- 2345 (0.7%)
- Monthly or less
- 4892 (1.5%)
- Unknown frequency
- 10 886 (3.4%)
Sensitivity analyses by exposure definition and frequency
- Pattern of results similar when defining use only by self-report or only by toxicology testing
- Associations between frequency of use and outcomes varied with outcome
Original publication
Prenatal Cannabis Use and Maternal Pregnancy Outcomes. JAMA Intern Med. Published 1 September 2024. doi:10.
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