Loading...
Many women are concerned about the potential risks of taking antidepressants during pregnancy. These Finnish investigators prospectively examined fluoxetine pharmacokinetics in 11 women and their infants; the women took fluoxetine (20-40 mg/day) during all or the latter part of their pregnancies and for one year while breast-feeding. The investigators also followed prenatal and postnatal development through age one year among these infants and among 10 control infants matched for relevant obstetrical factors.
In pregnant women, plasma levels of fluoxetine and its active metabolite, norfluoxetine, were lower than the levels usually observed in nonpregnant women; levels increased 61% by the second postpartum month. At birth, cord-blood levels …