According to a new study, researchers found no significant connection between the use of any anti-depressants during pregnancy and increased risk of miscarriage, neonatal deaths or post neonatal deaths, reports Medical Xpress.
Previous studies showed a link between use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during pregnancy (SSRI) and infant deaths or still births. A study conducted on a large scale found no such association to the risk of still birth or neonatal deaths due to consumption of these medications during pregnancy.
According to a previous article giving the background of this study says: "Depression during pregnancy is common with prevalences ranging between 7 percent and 19 percent in economically developed countries. Maternal depression is associated with poorer pregnancy outcomes, including increased risk of preterm delivery, which in turn may cause neonatal morbidity and mortality. Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during pregnancy has been associated with congenital anomalies, neonatal withdrawal syndrome, and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. However, the risk of stillbirth and infant mortality when accounting for previous maternal psychiatric disease remains unknown."
Olof Stephansson, M.D., Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and colleagues conducted a study to analyze the use of SSRI during pregnancy and its connection to increased risk of stillbirth, neonatal death, and postneonatal death. The study looked at women with single births from countries including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden from the period 1996 to 2007.
The study looked at all the data on use of SSRI's during pregnancy, and neonatal outcomes. The authors found an association between the use of SSRI during pregnancy and stillbirth, neonatal death, and postneonatal death, according to Medical Xpress.
"Yet in multivariate models, SSRI use was not associated with stillbirth, neonatal death, or postneonatal death. Estimates were further attenuated when stratified by previous hospitalization for psychiatric disease," the authors write. "The present study of more than 1.6 million births suggests that SSRI use during pregnancy was not associated with increased risks of stillbirth, neonatal death, or postneonatal death.
"The increased rates of stillbirth and postneonatal mortality among infants exposed to an SSRI during pregnancy were explained by the severity of the underlying maternal psychiatric disease and unfavorable distribution of maternal characteristics such as cigarette smoking and advanced maternal age.
"However, decisions regarding use of SSRIs during pregnancy must take into account other perinatal outcomes and the risks associated with maternal mental illness," the researchers conclude.
The study is published online in the January issue of JAMA.
