Marijuana Use during Pregnancy and Preterm Birth: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study is to estimate the association between marijuana use during pregnancy and total, spontaneous and indicated preterm birth. Study Design Prospective cohort study of women receiving antenatal care at The Ohio State University from 2010 to 2015. Marijuana use was assessed by questionnaire, record abstraction, and urine toxicology. Women were followed through the end of pregnancy. Relative risks were assessed with Poisson regression and time to delivery with proportional hazard models. Results Of 363 eligible women, 119 (33%) used marijuana in pregnancy by at least one measure. In this high-risk cohort, preterm birth occurred to 36.0% of users and 34.6% of nonusers (p = 0.81). The unadjusted relative risk of all preterm birth was 1.06 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.76–1.47); the adjusted relative risk was similar 1.04 (95% CI: 0.72–1.50). Spontaneous preterm birth was nonsignificantly elevated among users before 1.32 (95% CI: 0.89–1.96), and after 1.21 (95% CI: 0.76–1.94) adjustment. Indicated preterm birth was nonsignificantly reduced before 0.52 (95% CI: 0.22–1.23) and after 0.75 (95% CI: 0.29–2.15) adjustment. The unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for time to preterm birth was 1.26 (95% CI: 0.84–2.00); the adjusted HR was 1.32 (95% CI: 0.80–2.07). Both unadjusted 1.77 (95% CI: 1.06–2.93) and adjusted 2.16 (95% CI: 1.16–4.02) HRs for spontaneous preterm birth were significantly elevated, primarily due to an increased risk of spontaneous birth <28 weeks among users. The unadjusted and adjusted HRs for time to indicated preterm birth were 0.69 (95% CI: 0.33–1.43) and 0.58 (95% CI: 0.23–1.46). Conclusion Marijuana use was not associated with total preterm birth in this cohort, suggesting that among women already at high risk of preterm birth, marijuana does not increase risk further. However, there was a suggestion that pregnant women who use marijuana may deliver earlier, particularly from spontaneous preterm birth, than women who do not use marijuana. Key Points