Cannabis Use During Pregnancy More Likely With Mental Health Disorders

Cannabis use during pregnancy is more likely in women with depression, anxiety, and a history of trauma, according to the results of a recent study.

Although previous evidence has suggested that pregnant women report cannabis use to manage stress and mood, there is a lack of epidemiological studies examining whether mental health disorders could increase the risk of cannabis use during pregnancy, the researchers wrote.

They conducted an analysis of data from 196,022 pregnant women who completed self-reported questionnaires on prenatal substance use and underwent urine toxicology testing at approximately 8 weeks gestation from 2012 to 2017. Electronic health records were used to obtain diagnoses of depressive and anxiety disorders and trauma.

Overall, results of the cannabis use screening were positive in 11,681 (6.0%) of the pregnancies, and the prevalence of mental health conditions ranged from 1.9% (intimate partner violence) to 11.0% (depression symptom of at least moderate severity).

Those women who used cannabis were younger, had lower annual household income, were more likely to be African American or Hispanic, and were less likely to be Asian than those who did not use cannabis. They were also more likely to have an anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, both an anxiety and depressive disorder, depression symptoms, trauma diagnosis, and self-reported intimate partner violence.

“These results support previous qualitative findings that pregnant women self-report using cannabis to manage mood and stress and suggest a dose-response association, with higher odds of cannabis use associated with co-occurring depressive and anxiety disorders and greater depression severity. However, research is needed to determine the direction of these associations, because cannabis use might also cause or worsen mental health problems during pregnancy,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts
Reference:
Young-Wolff KC, Sarovar V, Tucker L, et al. Association of depression, anxiety, and trauma with cannabis use during pregnancy [published online February 19, 2020]. JAMA Netw Open. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.21333.