Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy May Raise Risk for Psychiatric Illness in Offspring

Antidepressant use during pregnancy has been shown to be relatively safe regarding teratogenicity and effects on the pregnancy, but interest in long-term neurobehavioral effects (e.g., possible increased risk for autism) continues to grow. In a prospective cohort study, investigators used Danish registry data to examine psychiatric diagnoses in 905,383 offspring born from 1998 through 2012 and followed for up to 16.5 years. Maternal antidepressant use was categorized as none, discontinued before pregnancy, continued, or new.

Cumulative incidence of psychiatric diagnoses in offspring (including autism, mood disorders, somatoform disorders, and behavioral disorders) was 8.0% in the nonuse group, 11.5% in the discontinuation group, 13.6% in the…