A new study by Biological Psychiatry shows that using cannabis during pregnancy may affect the brain development of the offspring. It is associated with abnormal brain structure in children having to do with the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain which is involved in complex cognition, decision-making, and working memory. About 2-13% of pregnant women use cannabis during the nine month period. Previous studies have shown some short or long-term behavioral consequences, however until now, effects on brain morphology were unknown.
“This study is important because cannabis use during pregnancy is relatively common and we know very little about the potential consequences of cannabis exposure during pregnancy and brain development later in life.” said the author of the study Dr. Hanan El Marroun, of Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “Understanding what happens in the brain may give us insights in how children develop after being exposed to cannabis.”
In the study, researchers used structural magnetic resonance imaging in order to examine brains in 54 children ranging from 6-8 years old. All of the children were prenatally exposed to cannabis, and most were also exposed to tobacco. The children were all part of a population based study conducted in the Netherlands. Comparing tobacco-exposed children with children exposed to both tobacco and cannabis revealed differences in their cortical thickness. This means that cannabis exposure might have different effects than tobacco.
“The growing legalization, decriminalization, and medical prescription of cannabis increases the potential risk of prenatal exposure,” said editor of Biological Psychiatry Dr. John Krystal. “This important study suggests that prenatal exposure to cannabis could have important effects on brain development.”
“We have to be careful interpreting the results of the current study,” said El Marroun, noting that further research is necessary to explore the causal nature of the relationship between prenatal cannabis exposure and structural brain abnormalities.Nevertheless, the current study combined with existing literature does support the importance of preventing smoking cannabis and cigarettes during pregnancy,” said El Marroun.
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