Pregnant People's Perspectives On Cannabis Use During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Integrative Mixed-Methods Research Synthesis.
Meredith Vanstone, Janelle Panday, Anuoluwa Popoola and 7 others
PMID 35445514WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant people often use cannabis after weighing perceived benefits for nausea, pain, mood, and stress against unclear fetal risks; clear, nonjudgmental information is what they said they needed.
Key findings
01Across 14 cannabis-only studies, participants described deliberate decisions about whether, when, and how to use cannabis, most often weighing perceived benefits against uncertain risk.
02Perceived benefits included managing pre-existing conditions such as anxiety, depression, pain, and insomnia, and pregnancy-related symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, sleep, pain, and stress.
03Participants often found health care provider information confusing or incomplete and preferred anonymous online or anecdotal sources because of fear of judgment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only English-language studies were included. Only studies with participants who had personal experience of pregnancy or breastfeeding were included, so perspectives before pregnancy were not captured. No partners were included, so partner influence is not captured. Only one study explicitly examined lactating people's perspectives, so evidence about breastfeeding is very limited. Included studies mostly focused on smoked cannabis and seldom covered topical oils, ingestible formats, or CBD products. Many studies grouped cannabis with alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, or herbal medicines, so cannabis-specific findings were harder to separate. The review reports perceptions and decision-making, not measured clinical outcomes, so it cannot establish actual fetal, infant, or maternal harms or benefits.
Declared interests
The article is listed as non-U.S. government research support. One author was employed as a research analyst at PureSinse Inc, a licensed cannabis producer, from April to December 2019; she reports no current financial or personal connection.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that cannabis is safe or effective in pregnancy or breastfeeding. It reports what pregnant people perceived and why they used cannabis, not measured fetal, infant, or maternal outcomes.