Babies of Women Taking Antidepressants Born With Deformities

by Heidi Stevenson

4 October 2009

The entire class of SSRI antidepressants causes birth defects in the children of women given these drugs during pregnancy. The British Medical Journal has reported on a Danish study that documents a significant increase in septal heart defects (structural flaws formed during gestation) in these children.

Just under half a million children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2003 were included in the study. Only first trimester SSRI use was examined. Women who had taken an SSRI between 28 days before and 112 days after gestation began were considered SSRI users. Women were excluded if:

• They had taken insulin or antihypertension medication three months before or during pregnancy.
• They had taken psychoactive medications, including antiepileptics, antipsychotics, and anxiolytics

Woman taking any other antidepressant, such as tricyclics, were included in the study, but not included in these results. SSRI antidepressants were the focus. Stillbirths were not included; the reason given is that it's difficult to define the term.

Study Results

The absolute number of septal heart defects is not large. However, these are permanent deficits that children must live with. One-half of one percent (.5%) of children born to mothers who had not taken SSRIs were born with septal heart defects.

• Overall, 0.9% of babies born to women who had taken SSRIs had septal heart defects. That is a 44.4% increase in heart defects.
• Women who took more than one kind of SSRI produced 320% more babies with heart defects (a total of 2.1%).
• The heart defect rates for individual SSRIs were:
        * Paroxetine (Paxil): No increase.
        * Fluoxetine (Prozac): 0.6% (16.7% increase)
        * Citalopram (Celexa/Cipramil): 1.1% (120% increase)
        * Sertraline (Zoloft): 1.5% (200% increase)

Perspective

It's estimated that up to 13% of women in America are treated for depression during pregnancy. The drugs of choice nowadays are SSRIs. Doctors seem to treat them like candy drops. According to the CIA, the population of the United States, as of 1 July 2009, was 307,212,123. Let's round that to 300 million. According to the same source, the birth rate is 13.82% per thousand. That's about 4,146,000 births each year.

Let's say that ten percent of American women take SSRIs during pregnancy. That means an increase of 16,584—from 20,730 to 37,314—more children born with septal heart defects each year.

The Official Perspective

The study's lead author, Dr. Lars Henning Pedersen, stated, "A potential association with malformations must be considered in the choice of treatment of depression during pregnancy," and continued with, "if our data is correct, the absolute risk is low, which must be balanced against the potential substantial risk of under- or untreated depression during pregnancy."

Cardiac nurse Cathy Ross of the British Heart Foundation stated, "The benefits to the mother of taking SSRIs during pregnancy needs to be weighed up against the small increase in risk to the fetus."

To those comments, all I can do is shake my head in wonder. Yes, the percentages are small, but they result in huge numbers of children, many of whom will lead lives with fewer options and even outright disability. It also concerns me that Ms. Ross is misrepresenting the odds. A 44% increase is certainly not small.

My Perspective

The modern medical system has lost its way when its representatives can minimize a 16,000-plus increase in the number of birth defects resulting from their treatments as nothing more than a minor "absolute risk". I am incensed and horrified at this distorted view of the lives of real people.

When it's a matter of a tiny improvement in the effects of a drug, it's hailed from the rooftops as an enormous boon, when the reality may translate into nothing more than an extra few days of life. Yet, when it's to their benefit to promote dangerous drugs and procedures, there's not even a hint of embarrassment at portraying seemingly small numbers as fairly meaningless, in spite of those numbers translating into tens of thousands of lives damaged, many in devastating ways, every single year.

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