antidepressants. Several studies from 2005 show that antidepressant drugs like Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro, Pristiq and Prozac doubled the risk of cardiac birth defects. Mothers who have taken antidepressant drugs during pregnancy have reported these devastating medical problems:
- Cardiac (heart) defects
- PPHN (Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn)
- Neural tube defects (brain and spinal cord)
- Craniosynostosis (skull defect)
- Infant omphalocele (abdominal wall defects)
- Clubfoot (one or both feet turn downward and inward)
- Anal atresia
- Cleft lip and cleft palate
- Limb Defects
Taking antidepressants such as Zoloft, in the early stages of pregnancy may alter development of the fetus, a new study indicates. This study will be published September 25 in the online British Medical Journal.
Many woman take antidepressants during pregnancy with no effect, but Zoloft, among others, may double the risk of a heart defect if taken early in the pregnancy, finds this study out of Aarhus University, Denmark, which looked at nearly half a million children born there between 1996 and 2003.
For the purposes of this study, early pregnancy was defined as 28 days before conception to 112 days after conception. The heart defect was very specific. It is in a piece of tissue that separates areas of the heart.
Zoloft increased the risk, as did Prozac and Celexa. So did using more than one antidepressant at a time reports Reuters. Zoloft more than tripled the risk, while Celexa more than doubled the risk.
Translating that into births – for every 250 women who do not take antidepressants during pregnancy, expect one infant to be born with the defect. That number increases to two infants for every SSRI taken, and four infants for mothers taking more than one.
SSRIs or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors taken during pregnancy have also been connected with birth defects and heart defects in other studies.
As far back as 2007 there have been studies on these types of medications:
One study of nearly 10,000 infants born with birth defects and nearly 6,000 healthy infants found that women who took sertraline (Zoloft) in the first few months of pregnancy had twice the risk of having a baby born with a heart defect, while those on paroxetine (Paxil) had more than three times the risk. Paxil also increased the risk of a rare hernia called an omphalocele. But this doesn’t mean antidepressants are unsafe: The heart defects seen in the study normally occur in 5 out of 10,000 babies, so a doubling of the risk means they occur in 10 in 10,000 and a tripling in 15 in 10,000—thus, a baby’s risk is still far less than 1 percent.
Talk to us if you’re worried that your child may have been harmed while you were taking any of these medications. We’re not just lawyers, we are parents – fathers, uncles, cousins. The call is free and confidential.
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