Crystal meth and pregnancy - not a happy combination

Taking crystal meth is never the greatest of ideas and a new study by researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles shows how harmful it can be for women to take it while they are pregnant. The researchers compared 276 women who were taking crystal meth while they were pregnant with 34,055 other women; all the women gave birth at a hospital in Phoenix between 2000 and 2006. The meth users were nearly three times as likely to have a premature birth and more likely to have a caesarean section. 20% of them had uncontrolled high blood pressure while nearly 10% of them suffered placental abruption in which the placenta separates from the uterus before delivery. The babies of the meth users were six times more likely to suffer ill health and four times more likely to die.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the link in the title of this post.