Anti-Depressant Use during Pregnancy May Not Harm Fetal Heart: Study
Mothers' anti-depressant use during pregnancy will not cause heart defects in children, finds a study.
For long, drugs like paroxetine and sertraline to treat depression in pregnant women was disapproved by many health experts who believed the medications can harm fetuses' heart. Experts from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found new results that oppose the earlier belief, reports the Time.
The study, led by Krista Huybrechts, examined health records of 949,504 women with Medicaid insurance coverage to note the risk rates for congenital heart diseases by anti-depressant medicines. The researchers also observed heart defects in newborns up till three months after birth.
Around 64,000 mothers reported taking medicines for depression in the first trimester of pregnancy. It was revealed 72 out of 10,000 babies whose mothers did not take antidepressants developed heart diseases compared to 90 of 10,000 children with the drug exposure. But this analysis did not look at women diagnosed with severe depression who mostly resort to alcohol, tobacco and psychotropic medication. These behaviors may have significant impacts on heart health of the fetuses.
The study again looked at 217,342 women suffering depression after conceiving and found a 12 percent reduced possibility of antidepressant related effects on fetuses' heart. After considering other risk factors like mothers' diabetes, blood pressure levels and additional risk of depression severity, the odds for heart defects reduced further by 6 percent.
"I don't know if it will completely settle the debate over antidepressants during pregnancy, but I'm pleased to hear more support for the safety of these medicines in pregnancy," Rebecca Starck, director of regional obstetrics and gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio who was not involved in the research, told Reuters News.
Both paroxetine and sertraline did not seem to have negative repercussions on fetal heart health. The past warning issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005 raised concerns about the harmful consequences of the selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor or SSRIS that raised confusions on drug prescription. The findings of the current trial debunk commonly accepted notions and urge women battling with depression to use anti-depressant medications.
"I do think women are aware of the concern and are reluctant to take medication for depression and anxiety, and I think that the pregnancy itself carries a lot of potentially additional burden on these women. And if they're further dissuaded from using the medication, it's really not in their best interest," Starck said, reports Reuters New.
"So I think it will help us to empower women to take the best care of themselves during the pregnancy, which may involve taking medications to help with mood disorders,"
More information is available online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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