USA Today Examines Effect Of Depression During Pregnancy

USA Today on Monday examined the risks pregnant women face when continuing or stopping treatment for depression during pregnancy. Two recent studies, one published in February in the New England Journal of Medicine and another published in the Feb. 1 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, led to "mixed conclusions" about the benefits and risks associated with taking antidepressants during pregnancy, USA Today reports. The NEJM study finds that women who take certain types of antidepressants, called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, during the second half of pregnancy are six times as likely as women not taking SSRIs to have an infant with a rare, but severe, heart and lung condition. Meanwhile, the JAMA study finds that 68% of pregnant women who stopped taking antidepressants during pregnancy relapsed compared with 26% of pregnant women who continued taking the drugs. "There are potentially risks on both sides of the fence," University of Michigan psychiatrist Sheila Marcus said, adding. "You really have to look at the severity of the maternal illness, the desire of the mother [and] the medicine you're thinking about using." Data suggest that more that 10% of pregnant women experience depression (Rubin, USA Today, 3/13).


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