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Is it safe to use the antidepressant fluoxetine during pregnancy? To address this question, researchers compared birth outcomes among 228 women who took fluoxetine during pregnancy and 254 pregnant controls with no obvious teratogenic exposures; all the women had called a teratogen information service in California.
The rates of major structural anomalies among infants of fluoxetine recipients and controls were similar (5.5% vs. 4%). However, women taking fluoxetine were significantly more likely to have an infant with three or more minor structural abnormalities (15.5% vs. 6.5%). Women using fluoxetine during the third trimester had a significantly increased risk of premature delivery, admission of the infant to a special-care nursery, and …