Substance Use in Pregnancy Among Vulnerable Women Seeking Addiction and Parenting Support

Abstract

Substance use during pregnancy is associated with obstetrical and fetal complications. Though use of some substances is discontinued during pregnancy, use of others persists. Our goal was to characterize substance-specific use and patterns of use throughout pregnancy among vulnerable women who attended an early intervention program for women with substance use issues. Through retrospective analyses of client records (1995–2016; N = 470), results indicated that the greatest number of women continued use of tobacco and cannabis for the duration of pregnancy (n = 232; 84.4% and n = 102; 60.0%, respectively), while the proportion of women continuing opioid use was relatively high (n = 33; 57.9%). Relapse rates were high for women who initially attempted to discontinue use of cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin. Results can inform intervention and treatment by indicating which substances are more difficult to discontinue, as well as substances associated with high rates of relapse.