SSRIs and Birth Defects: Small Risk

First published in Psychiatry Weekly, Volume 2, Issue 27, on July 16, 2007.

According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, despite prior concerns, maternal SSRI use during early pregnancy is not associated with congenital heart defects, nor is it associated with most other birth defects. Researchers examined data on 9,622 infants with major birth defects and 4,092 infants without major birth defects. Maternal SSRI exposure from 1 month before to 3 months after conception was associated with anencephaly, omphalocele, and craniosynstosis, but was not associated with any other major birth defects. The “absolute risk” of the 3 birth defects associated with maternal SSRI use was small.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/356/26/2684

-PC