Heart Defect in Newborns Linked to Antidepressants

Results newly released from a Danish study contribute to the evidence that the unborn babies of women taking antidepressants while pregnant may have an increased risk of developing a certain heart defect.

The study noted that while the overall risk for congenital heart problems (issues of the heart that appear before birth) associated with the use of selective serotonin preuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants is quite low, mothers who used more than one SSRI saw four times the presence of a septal heart defect in their unborn children.

In the Danish study the number of birth defects present among the babies of women who did and did not take SSRIs during their first trimester of pregnancy were compared. The study examined more than 400,000 children from 1996 through 2003 and found that 0.5 percent of the babies born to mothers who did not take SSRI medications had septal heart defects. Researchers noted that 0.9 percent of the children of mothers who did use SSRI antidepressants had the birth defect.

Lars H. Pedersen, a researcher involved in the study, says larger studies are necessary to fully understand whether or not a specific SSRI antidepressant is more or less safe for use during pregnancy.

Previously the Food and Drug Administration warned that the SSRI antidepressant Paxil may cause a potential increase in the risk of developing a heart defect in newborn babies whose mothers use the medication.

However, according to WebMD, current studies reveal Paxil may not present a greater risk of developing certain birth defects. The Danish study presented no increased risk of birth defects in the women using Paxil or Prozac, though the medications Celexa and Zoloft presented a slightly increased risk of the heart defect.