Anti-depressant Use during Pregnancy Might Up the Risk of Childhood Obesity, Diabetes in Offspring

Mothers-to-be, who are taking anti-depressants, might unknowingly put their offspring at an increased risk of childhood obesity and diabetes, according to a new study.

The study report reveals that nearly 20 percent of the American women and nearly seven percent of the Canadian women are given anti-depressant during pregnancy. But, the intake of anti-depressants during pregnancy might trigger certain health disorders in the offspring. Researchers at the McMaster Universityfound that mothers-to-be taking fluoxetine medication elevate the risk of diabetes and obesity in the children.

"Obesity and Type 2 diabetes in children is on the rise and there is the argument that it is related to lifestyle and availability of high calorie foods and reduced physical activity, but our study has found that maternal antidepressant use may also be a contributing factor to the obesity and diabetes epidemic," said study's senior investigator Alison Holloway, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the McMaster University.

Several pieces of research conducted earlier found that pregnant women are more vulnerable to depression and it is estimated that nearly 1 in every 5 pregnant women have certain symptoms of depression during pregnancy.

 It is a known fact that these drugs up the risk of obesity in adults. But not much is known whether pregnant women taking anti-depressants elevate the risk of metabolic disturbances in the offspring.

In this study, researchers wanted to determine whether maternal exposure to a commonly-used anti-depressant leads to the development of fatty liver that is mostly seen in those suffering from obesity.

This is for the first time that researchers have shown in an animal model how maternal exposure to a particular class of anti-depressants called the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) triggers an increase accumulation of fat as well as inflammation in the liver of the adult offspring. This finding increases concerns on the long-term metabolic complications in those born to women taking SSRI anti-depressants during pregnancy.

Though researchers suggest that women should not stop taking anti-depressants during pregnancy but the risk associated with its use has not been identified till date.

"The benefit of the study is it may help in the identification of a high-risk group of children who may require specific interventions to prevent obesity and type-2 diabetes later in life," she added. "If we can understand how the antidepressant causes adverse metabolic outcomes in the offspring than we can design therapeutic strategies to prevent the damage while allowing women who require these drugs to be treated but reduce the potential harm to the offspring."