new YORK (Reuters Health) – babies of women
treated with antidepressants during pregnancy could
present a slightly slower head growth and be
more likely to be born prematurely, he noted a study
carried out in Holland.
Even so, that no proof that these drugs, inhibitors
selective reuptake of serotonin ( SSRIS), they altered
the development of babies or that the observed differences
end up causing effects in the long run.
“The accumulated data continue to be controversial”, he said
Christina Chambers, of University of California in San Diego, and
did not participate in the study.
“Is not simply to know if a woman took or not a
“
drug. “They are all items associated with the disease than
are trying to, the duration of the use of the medication and everything
what that surrounds it”, asserted.
In the study, infants of women with depression, but
that they did not take drugs, they also showed a growth
body slower than infants of women without depression.
The team of Dr. Henning Tiemeier of Medical Center
Erasmus, Rotterdam, studied to nearly 8,000 pregnant for a
more ambitious study on the future mothers and their babies, in the
conducted quarterly controls by ultrasound for
assess fetal growth.
Most of the participants had few symptoms of
depression, while 570 was the disease but not
used drugs and other 99 were taking an SSRI.
In the womb, babies of women with depression but without
treatment, though less each week than babies of the
women without depression. The growth of the babies head
of the first group was also a little slower than the of the
babies of the other group.
Maternal antidepressant treatment did not alter the
fetal body growth, but of the head, with one
difference of 0.18 mm per week. At the time of delivery, the
those babies head was some 4 mm smaller than the of the
babies for women without depression.
“Someone might say that half a centimeter (…)” isn’t
both. “But we think that, since it is not so much the variation to the
birth, that half a centimeter is quite significant”, said
Tiemeier.
He explained that the SSRI cross the placenta and can become
to the fetal brain and alter its development, although this study no
was able to demonstrate if it would increase the risk that children
develop behavioural problems or mental in the future.
Babies exposed to antidepressants were also more
likely than the rest to be born prematurely: 10 percent
of pregnant women treated with SSRIS had a preterm,
compared to 6 per cent of women with depression without
try and 5 percent of women without depression, according to
pointed out the team in Archives of General Psychiatry.
Tiemeier recommended that women with depression who want to
pregnant talk with their doctors about the risks and
the benefits of antidepressants, and consider the use of the
psychotherapy.
“The general idea is that this type of medication is not a
“”
big problem in pregnancy”, said Chambers, who also
considered that it should take into account the effects of the lack of
treatment and depressive feelings during pregnancy and
after childbirth.
Results were the participants treated with SSRIS
lower than women with depression untreated in tests
for assessing depressive symptoms.
“The appropriate during pregnancy maternal treatment is
“”
good for the baby for many reasons”, said Chambers. “When
the risks are low and manageable (…)” “what matters is to be
the best possible mother during and after pregnancy”, indicated.
Source: Archives of General Psychiatry, online March 5
2012.
