PFPC Daily - May 18, 2005

Pregnancy Warning on Antidepressants

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO, May 17 (AP) - Women who take Prozac or certain other
antidepressants late in pregnancy raise the risk that their babies
will suffer jitteriness, irritability and serious respiratory
problems in their first couple of weeks, researchers say.

Babies born to women taking antidepressants in the last three months
of pregnancy were three times more likely to develop drug-related
symptoms than those born to women who did not use the drugs or took
them only in early pregnancy, according to a University of Pittsburgh
study that pooled previous research.

The study was published in Wednesday's issue of The Journal of the
American Medical Association.

Most of the symptoms were mild and usually disappeared after about
two weeks, but some required hospitalization in intensive care, the
researchers said.

The drugs involved include Prozac, Paxil and other antidepressants
known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRI's, and also
serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, which include
Effexor.

Each year, at least 80,000 American women take the drugs during
pregnancy, the researchers estimated.

Serious respiratory problems develop in perhaps one out of 100
infants born to these women, said Dr. Eydie Moses-Kolko, a
psychiatrist who led the study.