Study: Pregnancy Exposure to Antidepressants Can Cause Birth Defects

According to a British Medical Journal study released in June 2012, there is an increased risk of malformations, particularly of the heart, among babies who were exposed to SSRIs during pregnancy.

The risk is the same no matter how long the mother took the anti-depressant, whether she took the medication during the first trimester only or if she waited and started taking the SSRI later during the pregnancy. It also made no difference how much the mother took.

The researchers looked at the offspring of pregnant women in Denmark from 1997 to 2009.

This is not the first study that showed the birth defect risks linked to SSRIs such as Paxil and Zoloft. However, the potential birth defects are not limited to the heart.

The Therapeutic Drug Monitoring journal published a study in 2012 that also looked at the birth defects linked to SSRI antidepressants. This particular study focused on Zoloft. Researchers found increased risks of “omphalocele [when major organs grow outside of the body], anal atresia [when the anus is either not present or in the wrong place], limb-reduction defects [in which part or all of a limb fails to completely form], cardiac septal defects [when there is a hole in the septem, allowing blood to flow between the left and right atrium–leading to poorly oxygenated blood] and anencephaly [in which the baby is born without parts of the brain and skull].”

Another study published this year from Sweden showed that babies who were exposed to Paxil and other SSRI antidepressants in utero had “an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders.”

In July 2006, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued a statement saying that it was “asking sponsors of all SSRIs to change prescribing information to describe the potential risk for PPHN.”

The announcement was based on a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine that found that “PPHN was six times more common in babies whose mothers took an SSRI antidepressant after the 20th week of the pregnancy compared to babies whose mothers did not take an antidepressant.”

The lung disease is very serious and can be life threatening to newborn babies.

The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry published a study in June showing that Paxil and Prozac carry an even greater risk of birth defects with serious conditions and “major malformations.” Paxil, in particular, showed an increased risk of “cardiac malformations.”

The malformations linked to Paxil include neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida, craniofacial defects and cardiovascular malformations, as well as the serious newborn lung condition PPHN.

If you or anyone you know has had a child develop birth defects or experienced other negative side effects after being exposed to Paxil or other SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy, legal options are available to you.  Learn more and get a free legal consultation regarding a claim’s eligibility at the Zoloft & SSRI Antidepressant Birth Defect Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.  Experienced legal professionals have access to medical experts to assess whether or not this antidepressant played a role in the development of a serious birth defect in your child, so act now.