Marijuana use in Pregnant Women Determined to be cause for Developmental Delays

College of DuPage Nursing Student  Maria Villagomez wrote for Healthy Lombard that recreational marijuana is now legal in Illinois and researchers in the Midwest have warned expectant mothers to refrain from marijuana use after observing infants exposed to marijuana are at a greater risk for social and emotional issues.

Researchers at the University of Iowa, HealthPartners Institute, and the University of Minnesota conducted a recent study https://www.nature.com/articles/s41372-019-0576-6 that involved the use of a development screening tool to examine babies and the risk for developmental delays and found that 9.1 percent of babies from mothers who used marijuana while pregnant were at risk, whereas only 3.6 percent of mothers who refrained from drug use while pregnant were at risk.

The study also assessed the child’s growth as they approached one year of age. Marijuana use may also be linked to socioeconomic factors, as mothers who used marijuana were younger tended to be from low-income backgrounds. What is also concerning is that mothers may also not realize how long marijuana will stay in their system, which may contribute to additional complications.