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More and more people Marijuana use It is used before and during pregnancy to relieve nausea, pain, stress, and aid sleep. In fact, research shows that: More than twice as much Over the past 20 years.
Marijuana use during pregnancy has been shown to have the following adverse effects on the fetus: Low birth weight, Premature birth There is a higher rate of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit.
Are there any potential risks to mothers who use cannabis before or during early pregnancy? New research suggests the news is alarming, too: It increases the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening maternal complications, including gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder.
“Pregnant women who used cannabis during early pregnancy had a 17 percent higher risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension and an 8 percent higher risk of preeclampsia compared to women who did not use cannabis,” said Kelly Young-Wolfe, a research scientist in the Kaiser Permanente Research Division in Pleasanton, California, and lead author of the study.
Young Wolf said people who used marijuana during early pregnancy had a “19 percent higher risk of placental abruption.”
In placental abruption, the organ that supplies oxygen and nutrients The fetus’s tissue, called the placenta, suddenly detaches from the side of the uterus, putting the health of the mother and fetus at risk. Leading causes of death For both pregnant women and babies.
“Research shows that pregnant people are bombarded with inaccurate messages from social media, cannabis retailers and their peers that suggest cannabis use during pregnancy is safe,” Young-Wolf said. “Our study provides timely and important data as evidence continues to grow that cannabis use during pregnancy is not safe.”
Compared to the amount of weight gain considered optimal for a successful pregnancy, women who used marijuana before or during early pregnancy were 9% more likely to gain too much weight and 5% more likely to not gain enough weight during pregnancy, the study found.
“To my knowledge, this is the largest study to date looking at cannabis use during pregnancy and adverse maternal health outcomes,” Brianna Moore, an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health in Aurora, Colo., said in an email. Moore, who studies cannabis use during pregnancy, was not involved in the new study.
“It’s never too late to reduce or limit your cannabis use during pregnancy to minimize the health effects,” Moore says. “Talk to your health care provider.”
Hypertension during pregnancy It’s diagnosed when a pregnant woman’s blood pressure rises to 140/90 or higher after the 20th week of pregnancy, and it usually goes back to normal after delivery. Consistent high blood pressure during pregnancy “can interfere with blood flow to various organ systems, including a pregnant woman’s liver, kidneys, brain, uterus, and placenta,” says the American Heart Association. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
In some women, pregnancy-induced hypertension progresses pregnancy toxemia, More severe hypertension, elevated blood liver enzymes and protein in the urine are signs that the mother may have kidney or liver damage. Platelet levels may fall and fluid may build up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath. Mayo Clinic.
In extreme cases, such high blood pressure can lead to blood clots, seizures, strokes, temporary kidney failure and liver complications, he said. Cleveland Clinic.
“Preeclampsia can also lead to premature birth and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, which can separate mother and baby during birth and interfere with the early ability to have skin-to-skin contact,” Dr. Deborah Ansley, an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical director of the Kaiser Early Start Prenatal Health Program in Northern California, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.
Why does marijuana cause such serious consequences during pregnancy? Experts believe that cannabinoids, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may bind to receptors in the placenta and inhibit estrogen signaling, affecting placental development and function.
THC is the euphoric compound in the cannabis plant, but there are over 100 other cannabinoids. Identified The cannabis plant contains it along with over 500 other chemicals.
The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal MedicineThe study used health data from Kaiser Permanente Northern California, which provides care to 4.6 million people. More than 250,000 pregnant women who attended prenatal care appointments between the eighth and 10th weeks of their pregnancy were asked about their marijuana use. Many of these patients also took urine tests that can detect marijuana use in the past 30 days.
More than 20,000 people were identified as cannabis users, including about 11,000 pregnant women who did not admit to marijuana use but had positive urine tests.
“Our study is unique in that we had a large enough sample size that we could conduct a sensitivity analysis restricting the sample to pregnant women who did not test positive for other substances,” Young-Wolf said.
“Importantly, the results of this analysis follow the same general pattern as our main findings, indicating that our findings are not attributable to the use of other substances during pregnancy,” she said.
The chance of developing gestational hypertension increases with frequency of use, with daily users at highest risk.
“Our previous research has shown that the frequency of cannabis use during pregnancy has increased over time, and in recent years, the proportion of people who use cannabis during pregnancy reporting daily use has increased,” Young-Wolf said.
This is especially worrying because marijuana today is much more potent than it was in recent years, experts say.
The study found that use at least once a month increased the risk of placental abruption and also increased the risk of eclampsia, a more severe form of preeclampsia that can lead to seizures and death, although the risks were not statistically significant.
One unusual finding was a reduced risk of gestational diabetes. Studies of non-pregnant adults have had mixed results on marijuana’s effect on insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, health problems that can lead to diabetes and other chronic diseases, Moore said.
“Further research is needed to understand whether and how cannabis use during pregnancy affects the risk of gestational diabetes,” Moore said.
The authors acknowledged that the study has limitations: First, they could not ascertain whether marijuana use continued during pregnancy.
“I suspect the health effects may be stronger if pregnant women continue to use cannabis beyond the first trimester, but more research is needed,” Moore said.
Young-Wolf said urine tests only test for THC, not other cannabinoids, and self-reporting doesn’t determine whether use was through smoking or edibles. Additionally, because all of the pregnant women were in Northern California, a state that legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and adult-use marijuana sales in 2018, the results may not apply to other U.S. populations.
Results may not apply to the general population “The participants in this study were older, had higher incomes, and almost all had private health insurance,” Moore added.
As marijuana’s health risks grow, experts say pregnant women should feel free to discuss marijuana use with their health care providers without fear of retaliation.
“If a pregnant person is considering using cannabis during pregnancy to self-treat pregnancy-related symptoms, we encourage them to discuss the symptoms with their physician and undertake interventions as recommended in clinical practice guidelines,” Young-Wolf said. “If a pregnant person does not want to stop using cannabis, we encourage them to reduce the frequency of their use.”
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