Regular cannabis use may increase women’s odds of infertility

Key takeaways:

• Infertility was reported by 15.4% of regular cannabis users compared with 12.5% of women overall.
• Odds of infertility were not statistically significantly different between regular, irregular and never users.

SAN FRANCISCO — Infertility was more prevalent among women who regularly used cannabis than among those who reported never using the drug, according to data presented at the ACOG Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting.

However, odds of infertility were lower for those reporting irregular cannabis use compared with those who said they had never used it, according to Sarah Dzubay, BS, a medical student at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues.

Using multivariable logistic regression models, the researchers analyzed data from 3,166 women aged 20 to 49 years from the 2013-2018 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants reported frequency of cannabis use as regular (at least monthly use for 1 year), irregular or never and inability to conceive within 1 year.

Sarah Dzubay

Infertility was reported by 12.5% of women overall, 15.4% of regular cannabis users and 10.8% of irregular users. Compared with never users, odds for infertility were increased by 47% of regular users (adjusted OR = 1.47; 95% CI, 0.88-2.45) and were decreased by 17% for irregular users (aOR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.54-1.3), although associations were not statistically significant.

“[The association is] not statistically significant, but it's an interesting trend that falls in line with some other data about cannabis use and infertility showing a weak to moderate positive association with infertility with increasing frequency of cannabis use,” Dzubay told Healio. “There’s a lot more research to be done, but this could be important in counseling people about their risks for infertility.”