This Antidepressant Increases Risk Of Birth Defects When Used In Early Pregnancy

First Posted: Jan 05, 2016 04:29 PM EST
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New findings published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology reveal that using paroxetine--a medication prescribed to treat conditions that include anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the first trimester of pregnancy--can increase a newborns' risk of congenital malformations and cardiac malformations.

Close to one-fifth of women childbearing age are estimated to experience depressive symptoms that can lead to mild to moderate depression--increasing the use of prescriptions for antidepressants during pregnancy. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) remain the most common drugs for treating depression during pregnancy. However, until just 2005, paroxetine was considered safe to use throughout this time. Now, researchers believe that the medication can increase the risk of cardiac malformations in infants who are exposed to the drug before birth.

"Given that the benefits of antidepressants overall, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors including paroxetine specifically, during pregnancy is questionable at best, any increase in risk--small or large--is too high," said lead study author Professor Anick Bérard, PhD, of CHU Sainte-Justine and the University of Montreal, in a news release. "Indeed, the risk/benefit ratio suggests non-use in women with mild to moderately depressive symptoms, which is 85 percent of pregnant women with depressive symptoms. Therefore, planning of pregnancy is essential, and valid treatment options such as psychotherapy or exercise regimens are warranted in this special population."

Researchers conducted both a literature review and meta-analysis of all relevant studies published from 1966 to 2015, including 23 eligible studies.

Findings showed that use of paroxetine in the first trimester was linked to a 23 percent increased risk of major congeital malformations. Furthermore, researchers found a 28 percent increased risk of major cardiac malformations in newborns.

The investigators noted that the baseline risk of major malformations is 3 percent and of cardiac malformations is 1 percent. However, they added how any increase in risk is rather significant concerning SSRI-use during pregnancy and how it might affect the body. 

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