21 Jun Cannabis Exposure During Pregnancy Linked To Changes in Brain Development in Childhood

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Hanan El Marroun, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Epidemiology
The Generation R Study
Erasmus, The Netherlands

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: The background for the study is that little is known about the potential long-term effects of cannabis exposure during pregnancy on child development.

The main findings are the prenatal cannabis exposure was associated with differences in cortical thickness in childhood.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: That our findings suggest an association between prenatal cannabis exposure and cortical thickness in children. However, the results must be carefully interpreted, as there may be other factors involved that we did not take into account. Therefore, further research is needed to explore the causal nature of this association.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: As this was an observational study, further research is needed to explore the causal nature of this relation. In addition, repeated measures of brain development are needed to investigate whether these effects persist into adolescence and adulthood.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Hanan El Marroun, Henning Tiemeier, Ingmar H.A. Franken, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe, Aad van der Lugt, Frank C. Verhulst, Benjamin B. Lahey, Tonya White. Prenatal Cannabis and Tobacco Exposure in Relation to Brain Morphology: A Prospective Neuroimaging Study in Young Children.Biological Psychiatry, 2016; 79 (12): 971 DOI:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.024

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Last Updated on June 21, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD