Intake of recreational drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy, among others, during pregnancy or around the time of conception can lead to brain defects in newborn children, new research reveals.
Previous studies have highlighted that newborn children may have birth defects if their mothers were involved in the use of recreational drugs during pregnancy. However, Dr. Anna David suggests that earlier research may not be accurate since they were mainly based on self-reporting.
Dr. David is a consultant in fetal medicine at the Institute of Women's Health at University College London and the lead researcher of the study. She points out that self-reporting may be unreliable because pregnant women may not want to disclose that they are taking drugs.
The research involved 517 mothers based in England. Instead of self-reporting about drug use, the researchers took hair samples from the mothers. Dr. David explains that drug traces can be found in the hair of an individual.
As hair normally grows at one centimeter per month, the researchers took a nine-centimeter hair sample of the participants, which would estimate drug use in the nine months of pregnancy.
The study included 213 mothers whose babies developed a birth defect that was potentially linked to drug use during pregnancy; 143 mothers with no history of previous drug use but whose babies had a birth defect; and 161 mothers whose babies did not have any birth defects.
The researchers found that about 15 percent of the participants had consumed recreational drugs during pregnancy. About 10 mothers had taken more than one type of drug during the period. Findings show that 68 women had taken cannabis, 18 had consumed cocaine, one had taken ketamine while another had consumed MDMA during pregnancy.
"We were unable to identify significant links between specific drugs and brain birth defects. Therefore, I would discourage women trying to get pregnant and those in early pregnancy from taking any recreational drugs including cannabis," says Dr. David.
The study authors found that brain birth defects found in children included under-development of the brain and brain cysts, which can cause severe consequences and result in lifelong conditions such as cerebral palsy.
The study suggests that the risks involved with tobacco and alcohol consumption during pregnancy is well researched and recorded by scientists. The latest research, on the other hand, highlights the need for a wider study that would shed more light on brain birth defects and the use of specific drugs during pregnancy.
The study was published in the journal PLOS One.
