Marijuana use among pregnant women who are infected with HIV has increased over the last decade, a new study suggests.
Researchers surveyed women with he condition, who were either expecting babies or had recently given birth, about their substance use.
They found that more than 10 percent of mothers-to-be with HIV reported using cannabis, up from seven percent who reported doing the same in 2007.
The team, led by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says the findings suggest that future studies are needed to find our why rates of pot use in pregnant women have increased such more states legalizing recreational marijuana
A new study led by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine looked at 2,310 women living with HIV who were either pregnant or had given birth less than a year ago from 2007 to 2019 (file image)
For the study, published in JAMA Network Open, the team gathered data from the Surveillance Monitoring for Antiretroviral Toxicities (SMARTT) study of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Women with HIV who were either pregnant or had given birth less than a year ago were enrolled between January 1, 2007, and July 1, 2019/
In the US, more than 1.2 million people are infected with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, the virus that leads to the potentially deadly disease AIDS.
About 13 percent with HIV aren't aware they have the virus.
Once a person contracts HIV, the virus sets about attacking and destroying immune cells that normally protect the body from infection.
