Abstract
Background: In the United States (U.S.), the expanding legalization of cannabis has led to its increased use, accessibility, and social acceptance. Notably, a higher proportion of pregnant women in the U.S. have reported using cannabis to manage unwanted pregnancy-related symptoms. Cannabis has been shown to provide relief of nausea, vomiting, and pain in non-pregnant populations. Therefore, cannabis use may be beneficial to expectant mothers in relieving these symptoms in pregnancy. However, limited and inconsistent evidence is available surrounding the effect of cannabis on fetal development.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to collate and address the gap in the literature regarding the effects of cannabis use by the mother on a fetus during pregnancy.
Methods: This study was designed as a scoping review using EMBASE (Ovid), MEDLINE (Ovid), and CINAHL (EBSCOhost) databases as well as the grey literature. Research keywords were established utilizing the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and were combined in different ways using Boolean operators AND for simultaneous subjects and OR for their respective synonyms. Descriptors employed were (Medical OR Medicinal OR Therapeutic OR Treatment OR Therapy) AND (Marijuana OR Cannabis OR Cannabinoid OR Hemp OR Cannabidiol) AND (Pregnancy OR Pregnancies OR Gestation OR Fetus OR Fetal OR Trimester). Studies conducted during 2012-2022 and those that took place outside of the U.S. were excluded.
Results: The initial search yielded 952 articles following the removal of duplicates. After assessing the articles for eligibility, 309 articles remained and underwent a full-text review, in which seven final articles were selected for further analysis. The results found no association between mothers who used cannabis during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes including
premature births, small for gestational age, neonatal intensive care unit admission. In addition, pregnant women found cannabis helpful in relieving pregnancy related symptoms such as anxiety, depression, nausea, back pain, and headaches. Most women indicated that they would be willing to use medical cannabis therapeutically in pregnancy.
Conclusion: Very few research studies have aimed to target, and potentially, discover remedial benefits of cannabis use during pregnancy. This scoping review highlighted that cannabis does not always have negative impacts on the fetus. In order to support the widespread implementation of cannabis as an alternative to traditional medications during pregnancy, future studies should consider the route of administration of cannabis, the dose of cannabis being used, and also standardize the way in which study participants are exposed to cannabis.
