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A study warns of the risks to women who consume it to reduce anxiety and stress.
Even if it is for reduce stress and anxiety, consume cannabis during pregnancy can predispose the child to have a greater susceptibility to stress and anxiety, according to a study published this Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS)
Conducted by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the City University of New York (CUNY), research warns that using cannabis during pregnancy It is not only a risk for the mother, but also for the development of the fetus and during childhood.
Cannabinoids modulate stress, which is why "some people use cannabis to reduce anxiety and relax," says Yoko Nomura, professor of psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center and the Queens college and first author of the work.
"But our study shows that children who were exposed to cannabis in utero have higher levels of anxiety, aggression and hyperactivity than those who were not," he concludes.
For the study, researchers analyzed early childhood genetic, behavioral, and physiology data drawn from a long-term study of stress in pregnancy conducted with 322 mother-child pairs in New York who It started in 2009 and is still ongoing.
When The children were about six years old., their hormonal levels were measured - with hair samples -, electrocardiograms were performed to measure cardiac function while a situation that induced stress was simulated, and emotional and behavioral patterns were evaluated. behavior through parent surveys.
The children of mothers who used cannabis during pregnancy They showed greater anxiety, aggression, hyperactivity and levels of cortisol - the stress hormone - compared to the children of those who had not consumed.
Maternal cannabis use was also associated with a reduction in the high frequency heart rate variability, which usually reflects greater sensitivity to stress.
Furthermore, sequencing of placental tissue collected at the time of delivery in a subgroup of participants revealed that maternal cannabis use was associated with lower expression of genes that activate the immune system and greater anxiety in the mother. children.
"Pregnant women are bombarded with misinformation that cannabis poses no risk, when the reality is that cannabis is more powerful today than it was a few years ago. "Our findings indicate that using it during pregnancy can have a long-term impact on children," warns Yasmin Hurd, director of the Mount Sinai Addiction Institute and lead author of the work.
For the researcher, these results show that it is necessary to reinforce education and dissemination to reduce cannabis use in pregnant women and improve the health of pregnant women and their children.
