Prenatal antidepressants seem not to affect child
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The use of antidepressant drugs during pregnancy does not appear to have a significant effect on the behavior of the child, Canadian and Korean researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Tim F. Oberlander of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and colleagues compared behaviors of 22 children who were prenatally exposed to a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI), one of a relatively new class of antidepressant drugs including Prozac and Zoloft, along with 14 unexposed children.
The researchers evaluated data for the children, all of whom were 4 years of age, using a combination of parent reports and direct observations of the child’s activities.
“We observed that while the behaviors reported by the mothers did not differ between the two groups,” Oberlander told Reuters Health, mothers experiencing mood problems were more likely to report increased activity and poor attention in their child.
On direct observation in the laboratory, he added, “inattentiveness was more common in exposed children. We also observed increased aggressive behaviors in children who had had withdrawal symptoms in the newborn period.” However, the differences were not statistically significant.
Overall, said Dr. Oberlander, “the best predictors of attentional problems at age 4 were current reports of maternal mood and parental stress,” regardless of SSRI treatment or depression during pregnancy.
Nevertheless, he added, it is still uncertain if “withdrawal behaviors in the newborn period can be excluded as a possible predictor of attentional problems in 4-year-olds with prenatal SSRI exposure.”
Furthermore, Oberlander concluded, these findings suggest that despite prenatal antidepressive drug treatment during pregnancy, the “mothers’ mental health continues to influence child development and behavior long after birth.”
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, January 2007.
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