Antidepressants During Pregnancy May Not Be So Dangerous

New research from Bridgham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston has found that use of antidepressants during pregnancy pose a smaller risk to the future child than once thought. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For the study, researchers examined the effects of persistent pulmonary hypertention (PPHN), a rare lung and heart condition that can oftentimes occur in newborns, particularly whose mothers may have been taking serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). They analyzed data on 3.8 million pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid.

From the total number of studied cases, 2.7 percent of the women took SSRIs during the later part of their pregnancy, with most antidepressants including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.

From the sample, 7,630 of the babies had not been exposed to antidepressants but were diagnosed with PPHN. Furthermore, around 322 of the infants were found to have been exposed to SSRIs. Another 78 percent of them were exposed to non-SSRIs medications.

Previous studies have shown that SSRIs have been associated with miscarriages and preterm births. And with every pregnancy, it will be necessary to discuss the potential risks and/or complciations of taking antidepressants during the pregnancy, including the mental health of the mother. 

"Our findings should be reassuring for women who suffer from severe depression that doesn't respond to non-pharmacological treatments, requiring them to stay on treatment during pregnancy," concluded study author study author Krista F. Huybrechts of Brigham and Women's Hospital, via TIME. 

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