Taking antidepressants in pregnancy may raise risk of an autistic child, study suggests

Antidepressants may raise the risk of autism  - © OJO Images Ltd / Alamy
Antidepressants may raise the risk of autism - © OJO Images Ltd / Alamy

Mothers who took antidepressants during pregnancy may be putting their children at risk of autism, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Bristol found that the children of women who took pills in pregnancy were 41 per cent more likely to be autistic.

However the absolute risk is still small, rising from 2.9 in 100 children to 4.1.

Up to eight per cent of pregnant women are prescribed antidepressants during their pregnancy in Britain, and there are around 700,000 births a year.

Researchers analysed data from 254,610 individuals aged 4-17, including 5,378 with autism, living in Stockholm in 2001-11.

Up to eight per cent of pregnant women are prescribed antidepressants  - Credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Up to eight per cent of pregnant women are prescribed antidepressants Credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

The researchers estimate that, even if the association between antidepressant use and autism is causal, only two per cent of all cases would be prevented if no women with psychiatric disorders used antidepressants during pregnancy.

Prof Ian Jones, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of National Centre for Mental Health, Cardiff University, said: “It is possible that the higher risk of autism is due to the medication, but it may also be due to the effects of the mood disorder for which the medication has been prescribed.

“Given that family studies show increased rates of mood disorder in the parents of children with autism it is also possible that an overlap in genetic factors between mood disorders and ASDs is also involved.

Dr Christoph Lees, Clinical Reader in Obstetrics, Imperial College London, added : If there is indeed a causal relationship between antidepressants and autism it is a very modest one.

“It is possible that factors other than antidepressants explain the relationship seen with autism. In other words this study raises important questions but does not prove that antidepressants cause autism."

The new research was published in the BMJ.