The Association between Paternal Cannabinoid Use and Congenital Heart Defects in Offspring

Cannabis consumption in Canada is rising for both recreational and therapeutic purposes. Research shows that cannabis can impact sperm quality, motility, and volume by binding to receptors on sperm. However, the link between paternal cannabis use and congenital heart defects (CHD) in offspring has not been studied. This ecological study examined Canadian national data on male-household cannabis use and CHD rates per 10,000 births from 2010 to 2020, sourced from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System. Using RStudio, Shapiro-Wilk, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and multivariate linear regressions were performed to analyze the relationship, adjusting for household smoking. A p-value below 0.05 was deemed statistically significant. Shapiro-Wilk tests showed that the CHD data did not meet normality (p = 0.004427), while paternal cannabis and smoking data did (p = 0.09368, p = 0.3399). Spearman’s tests found no significant link between paternal cannabis use and CHD in offspring (R² = 0.0251). However, multivariate regressions indicated a correlation between paternal cannabis use and a higher risk of CHD in offspring (β1 = 0.04742, R² = 0.1507). This study, the first to explore this correlation with aggregated data, suggests that paternal cannabis use may be associated with an increased risk of CHD, providing important insights for Canadians.