Anti-depressant 'link to still-born babies'

London Telegraph
Apr. 07, 2006

Pregnant women who take certain powerful anti-depressants are twice as likely to have stillborn babies, scientists said yesterday.

A study involving almost 5,000 Canadian mothers showed those who had taken drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, known collectively as selective serotonin

re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), were also more likely to have of babies of low birth weight or born prematurely.

Those given the anti-depressants, taken by approximately two million people in England, in the year before they gave birth were almost 60 per cent more likely to have babies with low birth and 57 per cent more likely to give birth prematurely.

However experts pointed out that those on anti-depressants were more likely to smoke, eat less healthily or have other differences in their lives that could lead to dangers for their babies. They warned pregnant women not to stop taking their medication without consulting their doctors.

The research, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, was led by Dr Mark Walker, an obstetrician at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine.

Dr Walker said: " What we cannot determine is if it's the fact that these women are depressed and perhaps have other medical problems or is it the SSRIs?"

A spokesman for Eli Lilly, the company that manufactures Prozac, said: "Lilly does not and has never promoted the use of Prozac in pregnant or nursing mothers.

Decisions concerning the use of anti-depressants during pregnancy should be made after considering an appropriate benefit-risk assessment."