Evaluation of the Associations between Prenatal Cannabis Use and Infant Developmental Outcomes at 12 Months of Age
Date
2023-08-29
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Abstract
Despite warnings from governing health bodies advising against using cannabis products during preconception, pregnancy, and breastfeeding, cannabis continues to be commonly consumed by pregnant individuals. Past research has found associations between children exposed to cannabis prenatally and adverse childhood development outcomes; however, some of these studies fail to control for important confounding variables, and many are becoming outdated. Using data from the Pregnancy During the Pandemic cohort, the current project evaluated prenatal cannabis use and its association with increased risk of developmental delay across five domains: communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal social skills. In addition, the association between prenatal cannabis use, birth weight, and instances of preterm birth is explored, and sociodemographic differences between cannabis users and non-users are described. Using multiple linear regression analysis, no significant associations were found between prenatal cannabis use and greater risk of infant development delay in any domain (ps > .05). Prenatal cannabis use was not associated with greater instances of preterm birth or lower birth weight. Cannabis users and non-users significantly differed on all measured sociodemographic variables.
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Keywords
Prenatal substance use, Infant development
Citation
Watts, D. (2023). Evaluation of the associations between prenatal cannabis use and infant developmental outcomes at 12 months of age (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.