Drug exposure during pregnancy

The use of drugs during pregnancy can lead to various negative health outcomes including preterm labour, cardiac anomalies, reduced cognitive development and infant death. Drugs include: cocaine, gas/glue, hallucinogens, marijuana, methadone, narcotics, opioids and other drugs.

Drug use during pregnancy is known to incur risk to the unborn baby, and is considered socially undesirable. As a result, it is difficult to obtain accurate estimates of drug use in pregnant women due to potential unwillingness to disclose drug use during pregnancy.

Key findings:

• In Sudbury and districts, 5% of women reported exposure to any drug during pregnancy in 2016.
• The proportion of women with any exposure to drugs during pregnancy in Sudbury and districts has been slightly higher than that in Ontario.
• Between 2013 and 2016, the proportion of women who were exposed to drugs during pregnancy in Sudbury and districts has remained relatively stable.

Notes:

• These results do not include data from residents of First Nations reserves.
• Data source: BORN Information System, Better Outcomes Registry Network. Extracted March, 2017.

Figure: Annual proportion of women who were exposed to drugs during pregnancy, by geographic area, 2013 to 2016

Table: Annual proportion of women who were exposed to drugs during pregnancy, by geographic area, 2013 to 2016

Table: Annual number of women who were exposed to drugs during pregnancy, by geographic area, 2013 to 2016

This item was last modified on October 26, 2018