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THURSDAY, Might 12, 2022 (HealthDay Information)

There’s excellent news for ladies with a psychological well being situation: Taking antidepressants early in being pregnant does not improve a child’s danger of getting epilepsy or seizures, researchers say.

“The findings of this examine are essential,” mentioned examine co-author Ayesha Sujan of Indiana College Bloomington. “Being pregnant could be a attempting time, and the addition of despair, anxiousness and different psychological well being circumstances can add to this burden. These findings might present reassurance to ladies and their docs contemplating the dangers and advantages to treatment.”

For the examine, the researchers analyzed knowledge on greater than 1.7 million kids born in Sweden over 17 years. The investigators recognized greater than 24,000 kids whose moms took antidepressants through the first trimester of being pregnant.

Antidepressants included drugs prescribed to deal with anxiousness and despair, together with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like citalopram (Celexa) and escitalopram (Lexapro), in addition to serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). The SNRIs embody medicine similar to desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) and duloxetine (Cymbalta).

Amongst greater than 1.5 million kids adopted for one month after start, 0.12% had neonatal seizures. Amongst greater than 1.3 million kids adopted for 2 to 17 years, 0.40% have been identified with epilepsy.

Initially, the researchers discovered that charges of neonatal seizures have been barely larger amongst infants uncovered to antidepressants in the womb: 1.7 per 1,000 infants whose moms took antidepressants through the first trimester and 1.2 per 1,000 amongst infants whose moms did not take antidepressants.

Charges of epilepsy analysis by age 5 have been 5.4 per 1,000 amongst uncovered kids and 4.1 per 1,000 amongst unexposed kids, in line with the examine. The outcomes have been revealed on-line Might 11 in the journal Neurology.

However after adjusting for elements in moms related to the danger of seizures in newborns — similar to age, epilepsy, revenue and tobacco use — the researchers discovered no affiliation between antidepressant use by moms through the first trimester and a toddler’s danger of seizures or epilepsy.

“Whereas a number of research have proven a attainable hyperlink between antidepressant use by moms throughout being pregnant and seizures in newborns and toddlers, our examine steered that antidepressant publicity in the primary trimester of being pregnant doesn’t improve the danger of seizures and epilepsy in kids,” Sujan mentioned in a journal information launch.

“This might imply that the marginally elevated danger for such seizures documented in earlier research may very well be attributable to different elements similar to different illnesses or tobacco use throughout being pregnant,” Sujan defined.