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UK Wedding News

25/06/2013

Antidepressants Could Double Babies' Risk Of Heart Defects

An expert has warned of the dangers of expectant mothers using popular antidepressants, especially during the early stages of their pregnancy.

According to the Daily Mail, Professor Stephen Pilling, of the National Institute for Health and Excellence Care (NICE), added that some popular antidepressants could double the risk of a child being born with a heart defect. Mr Pilling added that he believes the risk is that great, that such medicines are 'not worth taking' for women who have mild to moderate depression.

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been used in up to one in six women of child bearing age.

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The BBC reported that the risk of a baby being born with a heart defect is around two in 100, but Pilling said evidence collected challenges this claim, suggesting that if a mother took an SSRI in early pregnancy the risk increases to around four in 100.

The Panorama programme which looked at the issue spoke to eight mothers who had babies born with serious heart defects. All of them had taken a commonly used SSR antidepressant while pregnant.

Professor Pilling said: "We make a quite a lot of effort really to discourage women from smoking or drinking even small amounts of alcohol in pregnancy, and yet we're perhaps not yet saying the same about antidepressant medication, which is going to be carrying similar - if not greater - risks."

He added that NICE guidance would be revised to take into account that the group of antidepressants are "linked to heart defects."

Lundbeck, the manufacturer of one of the SSRIs, Citalopram, told the BBC that a recent review of scientific literature concluded the drug "does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of major foetal malformations", adding that not prescribing the drug to a depressed woman could generate greater risks to her and her baby that the medication itself.

(JP/CD)

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"An expert has warned of the dangers of expectant mothers using popular antidepressants, especially during the early stages of their pregnancy."