Taking Antidepressants During Pregnancy Raises New Red Flags
A new study tries to clarify whether certain depression meds pose a danger to an unborn baby. (Photo: magezoo/Getty Images)
Women with depression have long faced conflicting information about the safety of taking a class of antidepressants called SSRIs while pregnant. Some studies showed that these meds led to a higher risk of birth defects, while others did not.
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Now, an exhaustive new study published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal tries to cut through the confusion. Researchers found that two antidepressants have been linked to a boost in birth defect risk, while three other types showed no association with higher rates of fetal abnormalities.
The study looked at five previous studies, plus data from 18,000 moms in a national birth defects study. The results suggest that two antidepressants, Paxil (paroxetine) and Prozac (fluoxetine), were associated with a higher risk of fetal abnormalities. Meanwhile, Celexa (citalopram), Lexapro (escitalopram), and Zoloft (sertraline) showed no link.
It’s potentially worrisome news for women with depression who are pregnant or are planning to conceive. But the study authors state that though the increased risk is real, it’s still relatively small, especially when compared to the risk of having a baby with birth defects for women who have never taken antidepressants.
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Case in point: the study authors wrote that a woman’s chance of having a baby with one specific heart defect is about 10 per 10,000. “Our results suggest that if she took paroxetine, that risk could increase to 24 per 10,000,” Jennita Reefhuis, researcher at the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and lead study author, tells Yahoo Parenting. “It is also really important to keep in mind that 1 in 33 babies is born with a birth defect, regardless of exposures during pregnancy.”
Also, researchers aren’t sure if it’s the antidepressant itself that triggered the abnormality or some other factor. “We took into account mother’s race/ethnicity, education, smoking, and obesity prior to pregnancy since these factors can affect the risk for birth defects,” says Reefhuis. “The observed links could still be due to the underlying depression, other factors that we either did not know about or did not measure well in our study, or simply, chance.”
“The study doesn’t show correlation, and that’s an important point to keep in mind,” Dr. Judy A. Greene, clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, tells Yahoo Parenting. Greene was not associated with the study. “One consideration is that depression itself raises the odds of birth defects.”
Though the risk is small, and the study didn’t show that the antidepressants triggered the defects, the results are still something for soon-to-be moms with depression to take into account. “Depression can be very serious, and women should not suddenly stop taking their medications,” says Reefhuis. “Many women need to take medication during pregnancy to appropriately manage their symptoms.”
Adds Greene: “Women should weigh the risk of birth defects against the risk of having untreated depression, which can increase the chances of developing postpartum depression once the baby is born.”
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