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pregnant women with depression more likely to use weed
pregnant women with depression were more than six times as likely to use cannabis than those without.
mar 10 2020
3 minute read
more women with depression smoking up while pregnant. stock/getty
using cannabis while pregnant is a highly debated topic in the medical field as cannabis is being used increasingly around the world. with cannabis becoming more accepted legally and socially, scientists are looking to study the effects that cannabis can have on expectant mothers. some studies have found that using cannabis while pregnant could cause babies to be born premature , while others question the efficiency of such data, calling for more studies.
now, researchers at columbia university have found that women with depression are three times more likely to use cannabis during pregnancy. while there have been several studies over the years linking cannabis with depression, this is the first study in the u.s. to nationally look at the relationship in pregnant women.
published in the journal drug and alcohol dependence , researchers looked at data drawn from the 2005-2018 national survey on drug use and health, a survey for people between the ages of 12 and up. pregnant women were categorized as a cannabis user if they said they had used cannabis in the last 30 days. researchers also looked at how other factors such as sociodemographic factors, age and the perception of risks associated with cannabis use affected the relationship between cannabis and depression.
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“our findings are timely given rapidly shifting perceptions about risks associated with cannabis use and its legalization,” said renee goodwin, ph.d., in the department of epidemiology at columbia mailman school in a press release to medical xpress. “we found the prevalence of cannabis use was much higher among those with depression who perceived no risk (24 per cent) relative to those who perceived moderate-great risk associated with use (5.5 per cent).”
pregnant women who didn’t have depression and had no perceived risk of cannabis use had higher levels of use (around 16.5 per cent) while those who perceived a moderate to great risk of cannabis was lower (around 0.9 per cent). but both these levels were quite different when compared with those with depression. the study found that depression appears to increase pregnant women’s vulnerability to use cannabis even if they understand the risk factors involved.
“perception of greater risk associated with regular use seems to be a barrier to cannabis use, though pregnant women with depression who perceived moderate to great risk associated with regular cannabis use were more than six times as likely to use cannabis than those without depression. this suggests that depression may lead to use even among those who perceive high risk,” said goodwin.
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researchers found that cannabis use was significantly more common in pregnant women with depression compared to those without. they saw that over one in ten pregnant women with a major depressive episode reported cannabis use in the last month (around 13 per cent) while 4 per cent of women reported cannabis use without depression. the case was the same across all of the sociodemographic groups that they looked at.
interesting to note, the study also found that approximately one in four pregnant teens with depression used cannabis in the last month. this finding was crucial to researchers as brain development is ongoing until people turn 25, which could increase risks for both the mother and the baby. it suggests that more education and invention may be needed to make teens aware of the potential effects of using cannabis while pregnant.
the team said that education about the risks associated with cannabis use during pregnancy for both mothers and their babies are needed — particularly for women with prenatal depression. as cannabis is becoming legalized across the u.s., canada and the rest of the world, increases in use among pregnant women are being reported, and call for more research into its effects.
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