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. 2018 Apr;21(2):127-140.
doi: 10.1007/s00737-017-0780-3. Epub 2017 Oct 12.

A systematic review of maternal antidepressant use in pregnancy and short- and long-term offspring's outcomes

Stephanie L Prady  1 , Inna Hanlon  2 , Lorna K Fraser  2 , Antonina Mikocka-Walus  2   3
Affiliations

A systematic review of maternal antidepressant use in pregnancy and short- and long-term offspring's outcomes

Stephanie L Prady et al. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2018 Apr.

Abstract

The relative safety of antidepressants during pregnancy has received substantial attention, but most syntheses fail to account for mental illness effects. We aimed to evaluate the literature comparing low birth weight (LBW) and neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioural outcomes for children whose mothers took antidepressants in pregnancy compared to those whose mothers had common mental disorders, or symptoms, but who did not take antidepressants during pregnancy. A systematic review was conducted searching PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Embase in January 2015. A modified version of the Newcastle Ottawa Scale was used to assess study quality. Eleven cohort studies were included: four reporting a LBW outcome (all with higher risk of bias) and seven reporting a neurodevelopmental outcome (five with higher risk of bias). We found only limited evidence of gestational age-adjusted LBW in exposed children in two studies which had a higher risk of bias and did not control for depressive symptom severity. Only five (7.5%) neurodevelopmental outcomes and one (12.5%) neurobehavioural outcome showed evidence of a statistically significant effect, three out of four were from studies with a higher risk of bias. There is little robust evidence indicating a detrimental effect of antidepressant use during pregnancy on LBW and neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioural outcomes. More rigorous study designs are needed.

Keywords: Antidepressants; Low birth weight; Neurobehaviour; Neurodevelopment; Pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart for selection of studies included in the systematic review
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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