Study: Paxil Doesn't Cause Birth Defects, Conflicts With Other Research

That's a pretty interesting finding in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry wherein researchers looked into a database of births and concluded:

"Paroxetine [Paxil] does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular defects following use in early pregnancy, as the incidence in more than 3,000 infants was well within the population incidence of approximately 1 percent."

This goes against earlier evidence cited by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which recommended in 2006 that women avoid Paxil use during pregnancy:

"This warning was based on two studies. The first found about a 2 percent risk of heart defects in babies born to mothers who took Paxil early in their pregnancy, compared with a 1 percent risk in the general population.

"The second study found that the risk of heart defects was 1.5 percent in babies whose mothers took Paxil in the first three months of pregnancy, compared with 1 percent in babies whose mothers took other antidepressants in the first trimester. The most common defects were cardiovascular."

Isn't this the way it always is with studies of one aspect or another of anti-depressants? It'd be nice to get a consistent evidence base concerning their use someday. But maybe that's impossible. After all these years of reading anti-depressant studies, I'm sure beginning to wonder.