Two large studies looked for developmental disorders and autism in children of mothers who used cannabis in early pregnancy.

New analyses of maternal cannabis use during early pregnancy find no evidence of increased risk of early developmental delays up to age 5 or of autism spectrum disorder. The studies were published in JAMA Network Open.

“Our study on developmental delays is the first to examine clinical diagnoses of speech and language disorders, motor delays, and global developmental delays and we looked up to age 5, longer than other studies have done,” said lead author Lyndsay Avalos, PhD, MPH, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research (DOR).

There are many potential health outcomes for mothers and babies related to prenatal cannabis use that are being studied, and the findings from both studies add to an early but growing body of evidence, Avalos said. The study team has previously reported about possible maternal health risks and poor outcomes for infants, such as preterm birth.

Results from both analyses are also consistent with another recent study from the same researchers, published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, that found no increased risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or disruptive behavior disorders, up to age 11, in the children of mothers who used cannabis in early pregnancy.

“These studies add to our limited knowledge about child developmental outcomes associated with maternal prenatal cannabis use by using a well-established population for studying health effects of cannabis use in pregnancy,” Avalos said.

Read the full article at Kaiser Permanente