Taking antidepressants during pregnancy doubles risk of having autistic child: Study

Tuesday 15 Dec 2015 - 14:12 Makkah mean time-4-3-1437

SSRI antidepressants are among the most commonly prescribed, including common brands such as Prozac, Cipramil and Seroxat.

Montreal, Canada (IINA) - Women who take antidepressants during pregnancy have nearly doubled the risk of having an autistic child, experts warned.
A study of 145,500 pregnancies found that the absolute risk remains tiny, with only 1 child in every 82 - 1.2 percent diagnosed with autism if their mother takes antidepressants while they were in the womb, Mail Online health news reported.
But that risk is 87 percent higher, nearly double, than for children whose mothers do not take antidepressants.
The findings highlight concerns that the increasing use of antidepressant drugs could be having a detrimental effect on patients and their children.
The British National Health Service (NHS) advises that antidepressants are not recommended for most pregnant women. But it says exceptions can be made depending on the severity of the depression, because if a woman is already depressed, withdrawing any treatment could make it far worse.
Around one in seven women suffer depression during pregnancy.
Canadian scientist Professor Anick Bérard, who led the new research, said: ‘Our study has established that taking antidepressants during the second or third trimester of pregnancy almost doubles the risk that the child will be diagnosed with autism by age seven, especially if the mother takes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, often known by its acronym SSRIs.’
The use of antidepressants in England alone has nearly doubled in the last decade, from 29 million prescriptions in 2004 to 57million last year.
SSRI antidepressants are among the most common, including common brands such as Prozac, Cipramil and Seroxat.
Professor Bérard, of the University of Montreal, suspects that a baby’s development is affected by the pills, which work by increasing serotonin levels in the brain.
She said: ‘It is biologically plausible that anti-depressants are causing autism if used at the time of brain development in the womb, as serotonin is involved in numerous pre- and postnatal developmental processes, including cell division, the migration of neuros, cell differentiation and synaptogenesis - the creation of links between brain cells.’
Her findings, published in the JAMA Pediatrics medical journal, used data from all pregnancies in Québec between January 1998 and December 2009.
The team found that of all babies, 0.72 percent were diagnosed with autism by the age of seven.
For women who took antidepressants in their first trimester, the risk went up to 1 percent, and rose further to 1.2 percent for those who had taken the pills in their second or third trimester.
After taking into account previous history of depression and other factors, the team calculated that taking any type of antidepressant increased the autism risk by 87 percent, and SSRI drugs increased the risk by 117 percent.
Previous research has also linked taking antidepressants during pregnancy to the risk of a child developing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
British experts last night warned that women should never come off antidepressants without consulting their doctor.
Dr Patrick O’Brien, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: ‘Depression in pregnancy can be very serious for a woman and can also impact on the health of her baby, so we must consider the benefits of antidepressant medication in such cases.
‘Our advice for pregnant women suffering with depression would be that generally the benefits outweigh the risks, however, all pros and cons should be discussed and weighed up by a woman, together with her obstetrician.’
Prof Ian Jones director of the National Centre for Mental Health at Cardiff University, added: ‘The paper is consistent with some other studies published in recent years that have found an association between exposure to antidepressant medication in pregnancy and a higher risk of autism in children.
‘However, the cause of this relationship remains uncertain. It is possible that the higher risk of autism spectrum disorder is due to the medication, but it may also be due to the effects of the mood.
SM/IINA

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.