Largest study to date shows overall use of antipsychotics in pregnancy does not appear to significantly increase the risk of congenital malformations

ABSTRACT FROM: Huybrechts KF, Hernández-Díaz S, Patorno E, et al. Antipsychotic use in pregnancy and the risk for congenital malformations. JAMA Psychiatry 2016;73:938–46. What is already known on this topic Atypical and typical antipsychotics (APs) are used to treat bipolar and psychotic disorders, and atypicals are increasingly used off-label to treat other disorders.1 With the rise of their use during pregnancy, we are increasingly in need of high-quality data to rely on for treatment recommendations as data from randomised controlled trials (RCT) are not available. Previous research on whether APs are associated with an increased risk of congenital malformations (CMs) has not yielded consistent findings and has relied on a small number of exposures.2–4 Given the small baseline risk for CMs in the general population and the large number of potential confounders, very large sample sizes are needed in observational...

Source: Evidence-Based Mental Health - April 24, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Grigoriadis, S., Peer, M. Tags: Causes and risk factors Source Type: research