THURSDAY, Oct. 7, 2021 (HealthDay Information) — Charges of biochemically verified prenatal hashish use elevated considerably amongst pregnant ladies in Northern California in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a analysis letter printed on-line Sept. 27 within the Journal of the American Medical Affiliation.
Kelly C. Younger-Wolff, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland, and colleagues analyzed information for all pregnant ladies within the well being system screened for prenatal hashish use by way of a common urine toxicology take a look at (2019 by way of 2020) throughout customary prenatal care (at about eight weeks of gestation). The evaluation included 100,005 pregnancies amongst 95,412 ladies.
The researchers discovered that earlier than the pandemic, the standardized price of prenatal hashish use was 6.75 p.c of pregnancies, which elevated to eight.14 p.c of pregnancies in the course of the pandemic. In contrast with the 15 months earlier than the pandemic, prenatal hashish use elevated by 25 p.c in the course of the pandemic. Charges earlier than and in the course of the pandemic had been steady, with no statistically important month-to-month developments.
“Prenatal hashish use is related to well being dangers, together with low toddler start weight and potential results on offspring neurodevelopment,” the authors write. “Clinicians ought to educate pregnant ladies in regards to the harms of prenatal hashish use, assist ladies to stop, and supply assets for stress discount.”
