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Using antidepressant known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during pregnancy can increase the risk of various birth defects, whether the drugs are used early or late in pregnancy, according to two studies published in the past six months.
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 risk of a fetus developing a rare but life threatening lung defect is relatively low. But if a mother takes a common class of antidepressant medication late in her pregnancy, the risk for her baby to develop the condition doubles, according to a Swedish 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.
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.
Pregnant women who take certain types of antidepressants are at greater risk for preterm delivery or other birth complications, according to a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The findings add more fuel to the argument that antidepressants not be prescribed to pregnant women and women of childbearing age unless absolutely necessary.
GlaxoSmithKline has awarded millions of dollars in compensation to women who took the antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine) while pregnant and delivered babies with serious birth defects.
Years ago, it was thought that pregnancy protected women from depression, but researchers have since learned that being pregnant and recent childbirth may actually contribute to a woman’s depression, filling her with a range of emotions that make dealing with the symptoms of the condition even more difficult. According to the Mayo Clinic, an estimated 10 percent of women experience depression during pregnancy.
Christine K’s newborn baby spent her first four days of life hooked up to tubes in an incubator at a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, a helpless victim of her mother’s longtime use of antidepressants prior to and for the first six months of her pregnancy.
Christine K had been prescribed a combination of Paxil, Risperdal and Depakote five years prior to becoming pregnant. While pregnant she read that Paxil could be harmful to her unborn baby. She asked her doctor take her off the meds, but he insisted she stay on them.
