Cannabis-Nicotine Mix in Pregnancy Linked to Higher Infant Death Risk

There may be safe and usable levels for all this, but certainly exclusion for now is optimal.

what is good is that science is now been pursued and we will ultimately learn what we really can do.

all good.

Cannabis-Nicotine Mix in Pregnancy Linked to Higher Infant Death Risk

By Amie Dahnke

5/9/2024

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/cannabis-nicotine-mix-in-pregnancy-linked-to-4x-higher-infant-death-risk-5646207?

Pregnant women who use both cannabis and nicotine increase the risk of infant death fourfold, a new study has found. This risk is significantly higher than if women use either substance alone during pregnancy.

“Our findings suggest that avoiding use of just one of these substances can decrease the pregnancy risks we see when both substances are used together, which is a critical piece of information providers can highlight when counseling patients,” Dr. Adam Crosland, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine and the study’s lead author, said in a press release.

Researchers also found that infants whose mothers used both cannabis and nicotine during pregnancy were more likely to be born underweight and premature.

What the Study FoundPrenatal cannabis use is more prevalent than ever, with up to 30 percent of pregnant women in younger, urban populations using the drug, according to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open.

“With the growing legalization of cannabis around the country, there is often a perception that cannabis is safe in pregnancy,” Dr. Jamie Lo, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at OHSU, said. “Because we know that many people who use cannabis often use tobacco or nicotine products, we wanted to better understand the potential health implications on both the pregnant individual and the infant.”

To determine the risk, the research team assessed hospital discharge data and vital statistics from over 3 million pregnant patients between 2012 and 2019 who had documented use of cannabis and nicotine during their pregnancies. The average age of the pregnant women was 29 years.

Less than 1 percent of the women used cannabis; almost 2 percent used nicotine during pregnancy; and 0.3 percent used both substances.

Compared to pregnant women who didn’t use cannabis or nicotine, those who used either cannabis or nicotine alone had higher rates of:Infant death, which is a live birth that results in death within the first year (0.7 percent)

Neonatal death, which is the death of a baby in the first 28 days of life (0.3 percent)

Having a baby too small for its gestational age (14.3 percent for cannabis, 13.7 percent for nicotine)

Preterm delivery before 37 weeks (12.2 percent for cannabis, 12 percent for nicotine)The risks were even higher for pregnant women who used both cannabis and nicotine together:Infant death risk was two times higher

Neonatal death rate was also two times higher

Having an underweight baby was 18 percent more likely

Preterm delivery was 17.5 percent more likelyThe risk is significantly higher because cannabis use exacerbates the negative impacts of nicotine, according to the research team.

Researchers Hope Results Guide Healthier PregnanciesThe data can help health care professionals with prenatal counseling, especially in explaining the benefits of abstaining from either nicotine or cannabis during pregnancy, according to the research team.

“We hope that pregnant individuals can abstain from using both cannabis and nicotine products,” Dr. Crosland said. “However, we acknowledge the complexities of individual circumstances may make this goal challenging, and for some patients is simply not realistic.”

Limited research on the effects of cannabis and other substances on pregnant women, fetuses, and infants has been conducted, Dr. Jamie Lo, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine, said.

“Our hope is that this research supports more open and productive conversations that ultimately result in a healthier pregnancy,” he added.