Atlanta, GA: Children exposed to cannabis in utero possess no elevated risk of suffering from autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to data published in the journal Autism Research.
Researchers affiliated with Emory University, John Hopkins, and Harvard assessed the relationship between prenatal cannabis exposure and ASD in a sample of 11,570 children.
Investigators reported no link between cannabis exposure and ASD after controlling for relevant covariates, particularly tobacco consumption.
They concluded, “In a large sample and measuring ASD traits continuously, there was no evidence that prenatal cannabis exposure increases the risk for ASD. … Although no associations were found with ASD outcomes, prenatal cannabis exposure may still be associated with other facets of child development and behavior that were outside of the scope of this study, such as attention and cognition.”
Studies assessing the relationship between in-utero cannabis exposure and various neonatal outcomes, such as birth weight, have yielded inconsistent results. However, longitudinal data suggests that cannabis exposure is rarely associated with adverse neurodevelopmental consequences, finding, “Although there is a theoretical potential for cannabis to interfere with neurodevelopment, human data drawn from four prospective cohorts have not identified any long-term or long lasting meaningful differences between children exposed in utero to cannabis and those not.”
Full text of the study, “Examining the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and child autism traits: A multi-cohort investigation in the environmental influences of child health outcome program,” appears in Autism Research. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Maternal Marijuana Use and Childhood Outcomes.’