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A new study, published in the January 12 issue of the British Medical Journal, adds more evidence that antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, when used during pregnancy, can increase the chances that the newborn will have a life-threatening lung defect known as persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN).
One in five adults in the United States suffered from mental illness last year, and women were far more likely than men to have been diagnosed with mental, behavioral or emotional disorders, according to a newly released government study.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is giving health care professionals the green light to continue prescribing a class of antidepressants to pregnant women despite a 2006 warning that the drugs may cause newborns to be born with persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN). The agency’s earlier warning was based on a study that showed an increased risk for fetuses to develop the condition if they were exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) after 20 weeks gestation. Since then, the agency says there have been conflicting studies evaluating this risk, making it unclear just how dangerous SSRIs are to developing fetuses.
Clinical trials testing experimental and currently marketed pharmaceutical drugs help determine the medication’s safety and efficacy. This information is vital to policy makers and doctors, who generally read about these studies in peer-reviewed medical journals. But only a fraction of data from these clinical trails is ever published, a travesty that both “distorts scientific record” and puts patients lives at risk, the British Medical Journal warns.
Scientists are currently debating whether there is a link between a class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and the risk of suicidal ideation and behavior, a problem identified shortly after the highly prescribed drugs hit the market.
New studies suggest use of antidepressants during pregnancy may contribute to an increased risk of heart defects in newborns, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is too soon to issue any specific warnings about that risk.
If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, check your medications, says March of Dimes’ deputy medical director Diane M. Ashton, MD, in a recent article in The Safety Report. Some prescription drugs can cause a host of problems for both the developing fetus and the mother, including miscarriage, low birth weight, premature labor, placental abruption, fetal death, and even material death.
Physicians in Australia are asking drug regulators to change the country’s system of medication warnings for pregnant women, arguing that the current system is confusing and scares women into not taking necessary medications during pregnancy.
More evidence supports the theory that exposure to a class of antidepressants during the first trimester of pregnancy increases the risk for major congenital anomalies, particularly cardiac defects. A Finnish study conducted by the Teratology Information Service at the Helsinki University Central Hospital confirms the results of other research showing increased risks for specific birth defects in fetuses exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during gestation.
Studies helped persuade doctors that treating depression in pregnant women was important to the well-being of both the mother and the fetus. As a result, antidepressant use during pregnancy increased. But new research shows that treatment with certain antidepressants just before and just after delivery may actually negatively impact the baby’s brain circuitry.
