Rates of cannabis use during pregnancy are increasing, and so too are rates of cannabis use disorder (CUD) suggests a new study out of Columbia University.

Cannabis use disorder is characterised by difficulty in abstaining even if it is causing health and social problems for the user – or those around them.

The Columbia researchers looked into CUD rates between 2015 and 2020 among 893,430 pregnant women aged 12-55 with continuous insurance enrolment. This encompassed 1,058,448 pregnancies in total.  International Classification of Diseases codes were used to identify CUD diagnoses and the yearly prevalence was found to range from 0.22% (2015) to 0.27% (2018 and 2019).

The study also notes other research indicating self-reported past-month cannabis use without concurrent alcohol use among pregnant women in the US skyrocketed from 1.5% to 5.4% from 2002-2020. More recent research found approximately 6% of pregnant women reported using marijuana in the previous month – that was based on data from the period 2015–2021 involving 4,338 pregnant patients.

While acknowledging several limitations of their work, including the potential for administrative health data capturing CUD diagnosis underestimating prevalence as some providers may not properly screen for it, the Columbia researchers say the implications concerning cannabis use disorder in pregnant women are significant.

“Our results highlight the need to better understand the determinants of CUD among pregnant women, including factors related to CUD diagnosis—from the severity of CUD—as well as factors contributing to diagnosis and treatment,” said Silvia Martins, senior author of the study. “This study makes it clear that additional research is needed to inform prevention and intervention opportunities.”

This latest study has been published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

In other related news, US researchers have suggested a link between cannabis use and Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP). This is interesting as cannabis is often used as an antiemetic in non-pregnant patients with various conditions – to manage nausea and vomiting.

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has an explainer on the potential health effects of using cannabis during pregnancy, and the US FDA provides advice concerning using cannabis when breastfeeding.