Pregnancy News: Use of Antipsychotic Drugs In Early Pregnancy Does Not Lead To Greater Risk Of Birth Defects

Taking antipsychotic medicine in early pregnancy, namely the first three months, does not significantly increase the risk for having babies with birth defects, according to the results of a new study. The study used nationwide information from Medicaid on 1.3 million women in the United States to look into the effects of typical (older) and atypical (newer) antipsychotic drugs on births.

MedicalXpress reported that according to the information from Medicaid, 0.69 percent or a total of 9,258 women had filed an atypical antipsychotic drug prescription during their first trimester of pregnancy. Only 0.05 percent of the women or 733 in total filled a prescription for a typical antipsychotic drug in the first three months of their pregnancy. 

Pregnancy: Antipsychotic use does not increase the risk of birth defects https://t.co/6xDpNkyEDf pic.twitter.com/mvUCVr6rVz

— Medical News Today (@mnt) August 18, 2016

The report said that 32.7 babies per 1,000 births were diagnosed with congenital defects in mothers who did not take antipsychotic medicines in their first trimester of pregnancy. Congenital defects were diagnosed in 44.5 babies per 1,000 births and 38.2 babies per 1,000 births among those exposed to atypical and typical antipsychotics medicine, respectively, when their mother was in early pregnancy.

From these results, the researchers found no significant increase in risk for birth defects in the babies of mothers who took typical or atypical antipsychotic medicine in their first trimester of pregnancy, reported Health Day. However, the researchers found that risperidione, one of the most common antipsychotics, was linked to a slightly increased birth defect risk but this still needs further study. 

According to Medical News Today, the authors, including Krista F. Huybrechts from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said that the results for risperidone "should be interpreted with caution because no clear biological mechanism can readily explain this outcome." This may also be a case of a chance finding, said the authors. Their study was published in JAMA Psychiatry.