Weekly Roundup for July 21, 2017: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
There a few new articles on the impact of antidepressant use during pregnancy. Viktorin and colleagues demonstrated no increase in risk for intellectual disability in children with prenatal exposure to antidepressants. Rai and colleagues demonstrated a small increase in risk of autism (without intellectual disability) in children exposed prenatally to antidepressants. We will be covering those two papers in greater detail next week. Ruta Nonacs, MD PhD Association of Antidepressant [...]
Is Psychiatric Illness a Risk Factor for Hyperemesis Gravidarum?
While the majority of pregnant women experience nausea and/or vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy, a smaller subset of women -- around 1% -- experience more severe and intractable vomiting, or hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). If left untreated, prolonged hyperemesis can lead to weight loss, dehydration, nutrient deficiencies and electrolyte disturbances. We do not fully understand what causes hyperemesis gravidarum. It is thought that it may be triggered in [...]
Alcohol Use in Pregnancy: Even Low Levels of Alcohol Exposure Associated with Craniofacial Abnormalities
While different countries may have different attitudes toward the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has taken a firm stand against the use of alcohol during pregnancy. In the report entitled "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders," published in the November 2015 issue of Pediatrics, the AAP identified prenatal exposure to alcohol as the leading preventable cause of birth defects and intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities in children, stating [...]
Evolving practice in perinatal psychopharmacology: Lessons learned
The following post was first published in OB/GYN News. Please see our OB/GYN News archives here. Publish date: July 3, 2017 Over the last 2 decades, there has been a growing interest in establishing a rich evidence base for treatment of psychiatric illness in pregnancy and the postpartum period. It seems as if a week does not go by when we don’t find multiple publications in the scientific literature describing a new [...]
Weekly Roundup for June 30, 2017: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
Happy Fourth of July! This week there are several articles on the use of antipsychotics during pregnancy (Tosato et al and Park et al). The highlight of this week is an article from Man and colleagues which did not show an association between prenatal antidepressant exposure and risk for ADHD in children. A Systematized Review of Atypical Antipsychotics in Pregnant Women: Balancing Between Risks of Untreated Illness and Risks of [...]
Perinatal Depression: Can We Predict Who is At Risk for Suicide?
It is estimated that suicide accounts for about 10% of all maternal deaths. While we have a fair amount of information to help us predict which women are at risk for depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period, few studies have identified risk factors for suicide in this vulnerable population. Suicidal ideation is fairly common among pregnant and postpartum women. According to a recent study in which a total of 22,118 [...]