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. 2011 Jul;72(7):1002-7.
doi: 10.4088/JCP.10m06135. Epub 2011 May 17.

A prospective, naturalistic, blinded study of early neurobehavioral outcomes for infants following prenatal antidepressant exposure

Rita Suri  1 , Gerhard Hellemann, Zachary N Stowe, Lee S Cohen, Ana Aquino, Lori L Altshuler
Affiliations

A prospective, naturalistic, blinded study of early neurobehavioral outcomes for infants following prenatal antidepressant exposure

Rita Suri et al. J Clin Psychiatry. 2011 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the potential effects of antidepressant exposure in pregnancy on early infant neurobehavioral outcomes.

Method: In this prospective, naturalistic study, neurobehavioral assessments using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS) were completed by blinded raters between March 2001 and August 2005 on 64 infants who were born to mothers in 1 of 3 categories: (1) women with a history of DSM-IV-diagnosed major depressive disorder (MDD) who were treated with antidepressants during pregnancy, (2) women with a history of DSM-IV-diagnosed MDD who discontinued or chose not to be treated with antidepressants during pregnancy, and (3) a nonpsychiatric control group. Summary scores for the BNBAS were obtained within the first week of life and at 6 to 8 weeks of age.

Results: No significant differences were observed between groups at either the first week after delivery or at 6 to 8 weeks of age on any of the summary scores for the 7 major clusters of the BNBAS.

Conclusions: Antidepressant exposure during pregnancy does not appear to have major adverse effects on indices of early infant neurobehavioral development during the first 2 months of life as assessed by the BNBAS. While this finding is encouraging, further studies with larger samples and longer follow-up are needed.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest: Dr Suri has received research support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr Stowe has received research support from GlaxoSmithKline, the NIH, and Wyeth; served on advisory boards for Wyeth, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and GlaxoSmithKline; and received speakers’ honoraria from Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Wyeth. Dr Cohen has received research support from AstraZeneca, Bayer HealthCare, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest, GlaxoSmithKline, the National Institute on Aging, the NIH, the National Institute of Mental Health, and Pfizer and served on advisory boards for Eli Lilly and Noven. Dr Altshuler has received research support from the NIH and served on advisory boards for Forest and Sepracor Dr Hellemann and Ms Aquino have no financial or other relationships relevant to the subject of this article.

Comment in

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