February 22nd, 2010 
Exposure to antidepressants in late pregnancy may affect children’s developmental milestones, according to a study published online Feb. 22 in Pediatrics.
Lars Henning Pedersen, M.D., of Aarhus University in Denmark, and colleagues analyzed Danish National Birth Cohort data on children born to 415 women who used antidepressant medications during pregnancy, 489 women who reported depression and no antidepressant use during pregnancy, and 81,042 women who reported no depression and no use of psychotropic medication.
Compared to children not exposed to antidepressants, the researchers found that sitting and walking were delayed by 15.9 and 28.9 days, respectively, in those with second- or third-trimester exposure to antidepressants, but that these milestones were still achieved within the normal range of development. They also found that second- or third-trimester exposure to antidepressants was associated with a lower likelihood of sitting without support at age 6 months and self-occupation at age 19 months (odds ratio, 2.1 for both milestones).
“The results of our study suggest an effect of antidepressant exposure on fetal brain development,” the authors conclude. “At follow-up evaluation, we found associations between exposure to antidepressants in late pregnancy and motor development, particularly for boys. The clinical and public health relevance of the results is not known, and longer follow-up monitoring of the children, with the use of more developmental end points, is needed.”
