Anti-Depressants During Pregnancy Could Lead to Serious Heart Defects in Newborns

Yet another word of caution for expecting mothers: stay away from anti-depressants as it may double the risk of your baby being born with a heart defect.

According to Professor Stephen Pilling of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), pregnant women suffering from mild to moderate depression should avoid taking anti-depressants.

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used by one in six women of child bearing age. However, Professor Pilling said facts showed that if a woman took SSRI in early stages of pregnancy the risk is found to increase nearly by four in 100. 

The Panorama programme interviewed eight mothers whose babies were born with serious heart defects. All of them admitted that they took a regular dose of SSRIs in their pregnancy.

Professor Pilling said that according to prescription guidelines, women can be given the SSRI, paroxetine, in  early pregnancy but rules needed to be updated as theyraise the possibility of heart defects in newborns.

"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 said.

He further said that women with mild or moderate depression should avoid any dosage of anti-depressants as these medicines put their child at "unnecessary risk" of heart problems.

However, in his interview to BBC, Lundbeck, manufacturers of a SSRI Citalopram, said that the drug "does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of major foetal malformations."