Sunday, May 1, 2016

Marijuana use increases risks in pregnancy – Scoop.co.nz (press release)


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Marijuana Usage boosts downfalls in pregnancy

Media Launch – University of Auckland – 02 Could 2016

Women utilizing marijuana throughout pregnancy have actually an increased risk of spontaneous pre-term birth, according to brand-new research.

“Women that go on to Usage marijuana at twenty weeks’ gestation are 5 times much more most likely to deliver pre-term compared to those that do not Usage it”, says University of Auckland Professor Lesley McCowan, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine and an author of the paper.

She says common legalisation of marijuana internationally had raised safety pertains to for marijuana Usage in pregnancy and the study was conducted as portion of the prospective global birth cohort study called SCOPE (Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints).

Professor McCowan is the brand-new Zealand lead investigator of the SCOPE study that aims to create screening examinations to predict small- for- gestational- age neonates, pre-eclampsia, and spontaneous pre-term birth.

The study in to the effects of marijuana prior to and throughout pregnancy used detailed short article concerning marijuana Usage from the SCOPE database and was published online very early this week by website, Science Direct.

New Zealand’s involvement in the study was funded by the brand-new Enterprise study Fund and the Good health study Council NZ.

This latest study looked at pregnancy outcomes for 5588 women in their initial ongoing pregnancy. They were interviewed at concerning 15 and twenty weeks of pregnancy.

From this cohort there were 23six women along with spontaneous pre-term births. Pre-term birth is an necessary pregnancy complication as it is associated along with risk of the child dying after birth or suffering long-term and pricey Good health consequences.

Researchers located that despite the fact that the numbers were small, continued marijuana Usage at twenty weeks by pregnant women was associated along with spontaneous pre-term births, independent of whether the women smoked tobacco, and their socio-economic status.

“In this big group, maternal marijuana Usage was a severe supplement to the risk of very early birth and was steady for cigarette smokers and non-smokers,” she says. “Of particular concern was that women that continued to Usage marijuana had a greater risk of delivering pretty pre-term once the downfalls of long-term consequences for the child are greatest.

“Our data indicate that increasing Usage of marijuana among young women of reproductive age might be a severe public Good health concern in terms of very early birth risk,” says Professor McCowan.

She says that 4.5 percent of the brand-new Zealand participants in the SCOPE study reported utilizing marijuana in the 3 months prior to pregnancy or throughout the initial half of pregnancy.

The brand-new Zealand Good health Survey from 2012-2013 reports that 13 percent of women aged 25-34 years have actually used marijuana in the last 12 months and 42 percent of grownups reported that had used it at some time, so marijuana intake is common in brand-new Zealand.

“Women that Usage marijuana must be encouraged to quit prior to pregnancy or to protect against as very early as feasible in the pregnancy, because continued Usage of marijuana at twenty weeks gestation is associated along with a five-fold raise in risk of spontaneous pre-term birth.

“In the group of women that we looked at, we estimate a 6.2 percent reduction in the incidence of spontaneous pre-term birth is possible, if women are not exposed to marijuana throughout very early pregnancy,” says Professor McCowan.

“In countries where authorities are curious about decriminalisation of marijuana or have actually currently performed so, the risk to pregnant women and their babies requires better consideration,” she says.

The brand-new Zealand Good health Survey from 2012-2013 reports that 13 percent of women aged 25-34 years have actually used marijuana in the last 12 months and 42 percent of grownups reported thay had used it at some time, so marijuana intake is common in brand-new Zealand.

ENDS

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