Research confounds antidepressants theory

The use of antidepressants during pregnancy is not linked to a higher overall risk of stillbirth and death in newborns, a study said, confounding a long-held opposing view of such drugs.

The Swedish study of more than 1.6m births in five Nordic countries included nearly 30,000 women who had filled in a prescription for an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) during pregnancy.

The researchers found that the 1.79% of mothers exposed to an SSRI had higher rates of stillbirth (4.62 versus 3.69 per 1,000) and postneonatal death (1.38 versus 0.96 per 1,000) than those who did not.