Women who take antidepressants during pregnancy have an increased risk of having a baby born with autism, said a new study in JAMA Pediatrics.
Professor Anick Bérard of the University of Montreal and fellow researchers reviewed data from nearly 150,000 Canadian pregnancies, and the results revealed an 87 percent increased autism risk for all antidepressants. For women who take SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) like Zoloft and Paxil — the most popular type of antidepressant — the risk of having a child diagnosed with autism is increased 200 percent.
The JAMA study comes at a time when autism diagnoses in the U.S. are at an all-time high and seem to be increasing. Currently, one in 45 American children is diagnosed with autism, according to the National Health Interview Survey by the National Center for Health Statistics.
“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 7, especially if the mother takes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, often known by its acronym SSRIs,” Bérard told Science Daily.
While the researchers expected a link between antidepressant use and autism, they did not expect to find such a startling risk attached to SSRIs.
This latest research follows other studies that also found a link between antidepressants and autism and developmental disorders. One released in a 2014 issue of the BMJ from Johns Hopkins showed boys with autism were three times more likely to have been exposed to SSRIs in the womb.
Another 2011 study from JAMA Psychiatry by Lisa A. Croen and colleagues showed a 2-fold increase in autism spectrum disorders in women who took SSRIs during the first trimester.
Source:
https://www.drugwatch.com/2016/01/13/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-and-autism-risk/
