According to a new study from Canada, the use of certain antidepressants in pregnancy may not be as safe as previously assumed. The study was published in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. It stated that selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, may increase pregnancy and neonatal complications.
For the study researchers at the University of British Columbia examined birth records and prenatal history of more than 120,000 live births. Out of this number, more than 15,000 women were diagnosed with depression.
About nine percent of these women were treated with SSRIs while the remaining women were either treated with another medication or not treated at all.
SSRIs are a class of antidepressants that include Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft.
Women who took SSRIs during pregnancy had an increased risk for preterm delivery before 37 weeks gestation. Newborns of mothers treated with SSRI medications also had lower birth weights than newborns born to depressed mothers who were not treated with SSRIs.
Hospital stays were longer in the SSRI group. This was due to several factors, but most notably a high incidence of neonatal respiratory distress.
The authors were suprised to find such an increase in complications due to treatment with SSRIs. These adverse effects of the medication need to be carefully weighed against the complications that may develop from allowing the depression to go untreated.
Women who are depressed during pregnancy are at increased risk for post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis, which can place both the mother and baby at risk.
The authors stress that a proper informed consent between the physician and the mother must be reviewed in order to make the right choice for every individual.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on September 22, 2006 12:30 PM
