Study: Anti-Depressants, Depression Linked To Premature Births

There's a fairly explosive new study out in the American Journal of Psychiatry asserting that both anti-depressant treatment of pregnant women and, separately, untreated depression itself increase the risk that a child will be born prematurely as often as 20 percent of the time (full study here). So, in other words, there's much fodder for both anti-depressant haters and treatment advocates in this new study. I won't even attempt to interpret the findings myself, as I am a bit tired of all the drama that erupts when I venture an opinion on depression and motherhood.

So here are the researchers themselves:

"A major finding of this study is a higher risk for preterm birth in infants exposed in utero to either continuous SSRI treatment for depression or continuous depression without SSRI treatment. Our study joins the converging yet controversial literature that links SSRI treatment to a threefold increase in the risk for preterm birth. Another important observation is that women exposed to depression (with no SSRI treatment) throughout pregnancy had a comparable level of increased risk for preterm birth."

I don't envy a single woman or couple planning a pregnancy these days at all.