A group of Yale researchers has concluded that the use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) in pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth. They performed a prospective cohort study of 2,793 pregnant women and extracted data on birth outcomes from hospital charts. Use of an SRI, both with and without a major depressive episode, was associated with preterm birth, defined as birth at 34 to 36 weeks gestation. A major depressive episode without SRI use had no clear effect on preterm birth risk. Their results were published online May 25 in Epidemiology.A 2009 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that--for depressed pregnant women--both continuous SSRI exposure and continuous untreated depression were associated with preterm birth rates exceeding 20%. Read more in Psychiatric News here.
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