Study: Anti-depressants Have Negative Effect On Babies

Now here is another article I thought you might like to read.

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Sally Aubrey

www.amazingpregnancysecrets.com


Study: Anti-depressants Have Negative Effect On Babies

August 27, 2006 12:00 p.m. EST

Megan Shannon - All Headline News Staff Writer

(AHN) - It may no longer be a good idea to take anti-depressants when pregnant, said a new Canadian study.

Researchers found that babies born to mothers taking a new kind of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRI are more likely to have a lower birth weight and experience respiratory distress. This contradicts the belief that treating depressed mothers-to-be lessens the negative neonatal consequences of mental depression.

Researchers studied the population data of 120,000 births between 1998 and 2001 and found that 14 percent of the mothers were diagnosed with depression. They then compared the data of those mothers treated with SSRI to those who were not.

More than 13 percent of the 1,451 mothers treated with the drug had babies who stayed in the hospital longer after birth compared to only 7.8 percent of those who were not treated with the drug. The babies exposed to SSRI also had significantly lower birth weights and gestational ages than those who were not.

Lead investigator Dr. Tim F. Oberlander told Reuters, "While our study may add another cautionary note to the use of SSRI medications during pregnancy, the use of antidepressants must be weighed against the risks of untreated or under treated disease ... and thus the decision should be made by an informed patient with her physician on a case-by-case basis."

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