Bandoli, Gretchen; Psaras, Catherine; Bakhireva, Ludmila N.; Burris, Heather H.; Ciciolla, Lucia; Coles, Claire D.; DeMauro, Sara B.; Osmundson, Sarah S.; Merhar, Stephanie L.; Smith, Lynne; Acheson, Ashley; Bogdan, Ryan; Croff, Julie M.; Cutting, Laurie E.; Conway, Kevin P.; Fallin, M. Daniele; Gao, Wei; Garavan, Hugh; Gregory, Kim; Gurka, Kelly K.; Gurka, Matthew J.; Horan, Holly L.; Howlett, Katia D.; Howell, Brittany R.; Huang, Hao; Kable, Julie A.; LeBlanc, Kimberly H.; Linkersd枚rfer, Janosch; Marienfeld, Carla B.; McKelvey, Lorraine M.; Morris, Amanda S.; Ou, Xiawei; Peralta-Carcelen, Myriam; Pini, Nicol貌; Potter, Alexandra S.; Rogers, Cynthia E.; Sullivan, Elinor L.; Sun, Sophie; Thompson, Wesley K.; Thomason, Moriah E.; Volk, Heather E.; Wilson, Sylia; Zgierska, Aleksandra E.; Zink, Jennifer; Smyser, Christopher D.; Nelson, Charles A.; Chambers, Christina D. (2026).听.听Pediatrics, 157(6).听
This study looked at whether using nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, or opioids during pregnancy was linked to babies being born earlier, weighing less, or being smaller for their gestational age. The researchers used data from the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study, a large U.S. project that follows families over time. They identified prenatal exposure using mothers鈥� reports, toxicology tests, and newborn diagnosis records related to substance exposure. Among 660 mother-infant pairs, prenatal cannabis exposure was seen in 17% of participants, nicotine in 15%, alcohol in 13%, and opioids in 5%. After accounting for other factors, cannabis and opioid exposure were each linked to lower birth weight and smaller birth size relative to gestational age. The effects for nicotine and alcohol pointed in the same direction but were not strong enough to be statistically significant. The study did not find a clear link between any of the substances and how many weeks pregnant the baby was at birth. Overall, these early findings suggest that greater-than-minimal exposure to cannabis and opioids during pregnancy may be associated with smaller newborn size, although more research is needed to better understand how timing and amount of exposure affect outcomes later in childhood.
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FIGURE 1.
Cohort selection of completed visits eligible for inclusion in the HBCD data release 1.0. Abbreviations: EPDS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; HBCD, HEALthy Brain and Child Development.
