Mothers ’ Depression, Not SSRI Use, Best Explains Researchers ’ Results

Back in October, researchers published the findings from a study that suggested that mothers who take a common form of antidepressants (SSRIs like Prozac) while pregnant are at greater risk for producing offspring that will later have speech or language problems. However, this month, the researchers got some push back in the journal where the original study was published. And in reviewing the results of the study, it appears the researchers overstated the association and import of the relationship they found. There are a few classes of antidepressants prescribed to treat depression, but by far the most common class is known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs have been studied more extensively than virtually any other class of psychiatric drug, both because they are so commonly prescribed and because people take them over such long periods of time (years, usually). The original study (Brown et al., 2016) examined the health records of the Finnish offspring of 15,596 whose mothers with depression used SSRIs during pregnancy; 9537 whose mothers had depression but did not use SSRIs in pregnancy; and 31,207 whose mothers did not have a psychiatric diagnosis (or a history of purchasing SSRIs). As Medscape originally reported: After adjustment for covariates, analysis showed a 37% greater risk for speech and language disorders among children of mothers who purchased SSRIs at least twice during their pregnancy compared with children whose mothers had depress...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Antidepressant Children and Teens Depression General Medications Minding the Media Parenting Psychiatry Research mother ssri use mothers and ssris risks of ssris Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor ssris for depression Source Type: blogs