HUFFINGTON POST: A new study published December 14 in JAMA Pediatrics revealed a startling link between antidepressant use during pregnancy and autism. Women who took a class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI)—which includes Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil—during the second and third trimester had more than double the risk of having a child with autism. The study authors conclude that those children were 87 percent more likely to be diagnosed on theautism spectrum.
The study followed more than 145,000 Canadians from conception to 10 years of age. Some 4,700 of those children were exposed to antidepressants at some point in utero and among those children, 46 of them developed autism. The study also found that women who took more than one class of antidepressants while pregnant had more than four times the risk of having a child with autism compared to women who took no antidepressants.
Lead researcher Anick Bérard tells The Independent, “It is biologically plausible that antidepressants are causing autism if used at the time of brain development in the womb, as serotonin is involved in numerous pre- and postnatal developmental processes, including cell division, the migration of neurons, cell differentiation and synaptogenesis—the creation of links between brain cells.” … (more)
