Neuromotor Behavior Affected by Intrauterine Antipsychotic Exposure

Intrauterine antipsychotic exposure may significantly affect neuromotor performance in 6-month-old infants. Researchers at Emory University reported online April 2 in the Archives of General Psychiatry the results of a 1999 through 2008 prospective controlled study of 309 mother-infant pairs. Examiners masked to maternal-infant exposure status administered a standardized neuromotor examination (the Infant Neurological International Battery) that tests posture, tone, reflexes, and motor skills. Infants prenatally exposed to antipsychotics scored signficantly lower than infants with antidepressant or no psychotropic exposure. Their results, said the researchers, highlight "the need for further scrutiny of the reproductive safety and neurodevelopmental sequelae of fetal antipsychotic exposure."

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration required the labels of all antipsychotics to be updated to reflect concerns about potential risk for extrapyramidal symptoms and withdrawal symptoms in newborns whose mothers were treated with antipsychotic medications during the third trimester of pregnancy. Read more about it in Psychiatric News, here.

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