Children born to women taking anti-depressants in early pregnancy have a small but important increased risk of heart defects, researchers say.
The study published in the British Medical Journal says depression affects up to 20% of pregnant women.
Exposure to anti-depressants in the womb caused problems in less than 1% of children.
The authors say the overall risk is very low and women should speak to doctors before stopping their drugs.
Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are medicines commonly used for the treatment of depression .
In 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about the SSRI paroxetine because of an increase in birth defects if it was taken during pregnancy.
Septal heart defects
This study looked at whether there was an association between SSRIs taken in the first trimester of pregnancy and malformations in over 400,000 children born in Denmark between 1996 and 2003.
Maternal age and smoking were taken into account.
The defects found are known as septal heart defects where there is a problem with the wall that divides the left side of the heart from the right side.
The researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark said these defects were 0.4% more prevalent in children of women who redeemed a prescription for an SSRI in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Two SSRIs, sertraline and citalopram, were associated with the problem.
Two others, paroxetine and fluoxetine, were not.
A four-fold increase in septal heart defects was found if women were taking more than one SSRI.
There were no other malformations associated with taking SSRIs. Read more...
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