Changes in Prenatal Cannabis Use Among Pregnant Individuals From 2012 to 2022

Kelly C Young-Wolff1, Felicia W Chi, Gwen T Lapham

  • 1Division of Research and Regional Offices, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Pleasanton, and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute and the Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

PubMed

This population-based cross-sectional study analyzed electronic health record data of pregnant individuals in an integrated health care delivery system in California to examine changes in prenatal cannabis use through self-report and urine toxicology testing during standard prenatal care between 2012 (n=33,546) and 2022 (n=43,415), and to test whether trends differed by race and ethnicity or age. The prevalence of prenatal cannabis use increased from 5.5% (95% CI, 5.3-5.8%) in 2012 to 9.0% (95% CI, 8.7-9.2%) in 2022 (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 1.82, 95% CI, 1.72-1.92), with similar increases by toxicology test (aPR 1.70, 95% CI, 1.60-1.81) and self-report (aPR 2.12, 95% CI, 1.95-2.30). The increase in prevalence varied significantly across racial and ethnic and age groups, with the highest prevalence among Black individuals and those aged 13-24 across years. Although rates increased more slowly among groups with the highest prevalence of use, disparities persisted over time.

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