The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women with substance use disorder: A narrative review

Background: Substance abuse in pregnancy is a very complex issue with significant implications for the mother and the child. Maternal substance use often occurs along with depressive symptoms, stress, poor mental health, poor social support and self-injurious behaviour. Many studies have shown an increase in the use of substances to cope with the feelings of isolation, depression and negative emotions due to COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: The aim of this review is to synthesize the evidence of substance abuse in pregnancy during COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. Methods: The present paper consists of a narrative review. A non-systematic literature review was conducted in June and July 2022 using four different databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Psychinfo, Scopus). Keyword were combined with Boolean operators and two of the authors filtered the results. Only studies published about cannabis or other illicit substances published between 2020 and 2022 were considered. Results: Our research has highlighted 10 articles and 4 central themes about the use of substances in pregnant women during pregnancy: limitations of access to health care; advantages of telemedicine and hybrid model care; isolation due to COVID-19 adversely impacts mental health; higher number of substances used. Conclusions: Pregnant women with SUD have faced complex challenges and barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason it is considered essential to implement the interventions for these women and a specific support during the pandemic.