Peri-Pregnancy Cannabis Use and Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Offspring: Findings from the Study to Explore Early Development.
Carolyn DiGuiseppi, Tessa Crume, Julia Van Dyke and 9 others
PMID 34767135WHAT IT FOUND
After accounting for maternal education, tobacco, and alcohol use, there was no significant association between mothers reporting cannabis use around pregnancy and their children having autism.
The unadjusted link to developmental delay controls disappeared once these factors were considered.
Key findings
01After adjusting for peri-pregnancy tobacco and alcohol use and maternal education, children with ASD did not differ significantly from children in the DD or POP groups in their likelihood of having a mother who reported using cannabis at any time during the peri-pregnancy period, pre-conception only, or during pregnancy.
02In unadjusted analyses, children with ASD were significantly more likely than children in the DD group to have a mother who reported using cannabis during the peri-pregnancy period or only in the 3 months before conception.
03Relatively few mothers reported cannabis use, limiting statistical power to detect associations, to examine adjusted associations with use by trimester or during breastfeeding, and to test interactions with prenatal tobacco use.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study relied on self-reported cannabis use collected 3-5 years after birth, which has low sensitivity and may underestimate true prevalence. The number of mothers reporting cannabis use was small (2.3% during pregnancy), which limited statistical power, particularly for analyzing specific trimesters or breastfeeding periods. Data on the dose, frequency, and route of ingestion of cannabis were not collected. The study population was recruited from specific US states, and legal status varied, which may affect generalizability and reporting accuracy due to social desirability bias.
Declared interests
All authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of association as proof that cannabis use during pregnancy is safe for neurodevelopment. The study had low statistical power due to few users, relied on potentially inaccurate self-reporting, and could not assess dose or frequency, meaning smaller or different risks may exist but were not detected.