Furious Seasons

October 06, 2009

Study: SSRIs Linked To Pre-Term Deliveries

A Danish study out in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine asserts that women taking an SSRI anti-depressant while pregnant had double the risk of having a pre-term baby and had almost two and one-half times the risk of having their baby wind up admitted to a neo-natal ICU.

The study comes on the heels of an earlier study this year linking anti-depressant use during pregnancy to premature births.

The SSRI portion of the study was small--it involved 329 women who were taking SSRIs--so I don't think it's a nail in the coffin type of study. But with all the studies that have come out this year showing just how tricky anti-depressant use is, it's another brick in the wall, so to speak. Last month, a study came out linking anti-depressants to birth defects. Earlier this year, another study linked long-term anti-depressant use to sudden cardiac death in women. Another study linked long-term anti-depressant use to increased diabetes risk.

At a minimum, people have got to be very, very careful when taking anti-depressants.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at October 6, 2009 12:03 AM

del.icio.us Digg it reddit

Comments

Thank you Philip for this.
Very careful...
Antidepressants SSRIs would not be on the market if there was a tiny little bit of ethics in medicine.

Posted by: Ana at October 5, 2009 11:22 PM

Funny you should mention moms again, as I was just going to email you this link from the New York Times "Science Times" section:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/health/06depr.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=depression&st=cse

It's on whether pregnant women should risk taking antidepressants. I was pleased to see the reporter noting up front that some of the authors of a study on the topic had pharma company funding. Also, the story had the reasonable message that "there's no one-size-fits-all approach" to treating depression during pregnancy.

But I was chilled by the doctor toward the end of the piece who says pregnant women with signs of depression should be treated "aggressively." One of the most disturbing points in the piece is the mention that some 15 to 30 percent (!!) of babies born to moms who took antidepressants suffered drug withdrawal symptoms, which the story notes usually resolve in about 2 weeks. I bet that 2 weeks of withdrawal seems like a lifetime for that baby and its mom.

Posted by: Miranda at October 6, 2009 07:35 AM

There's an article in the NYTimes today on the issue of antidepressants and pregnancy that seriously needs to be trashed. That brain bender Nada Stotland is quoted. It makes me wild how naive and cavalier some of these people are.

Posted by: Sara at October 6, 2009 10:31 AM