• SSRIs

    Response to the New York Times Article on SSRIs and Pregnancy: Moving Toward a More Balanced View of Risk

    We have received many emails and calls from colleagues and patients regarding the recent article on the safety of SSRI use during pregnancy published in the New York Times.  In this article, health writer Roni Caryn Rabin, detailed the risks associated with the use of antidepressants during pregnancy.

    New Research from the CWMH: Venlafaxine As Effective As Estradiol for Hot Flashes

    Various selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro) and paroxetine (Paxil), have been shown to be effective for the treatment of menopausal vasomotor symptoms (VMS). Other studies have supported the efficacy of the serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor). The FDA recently approved a 7.5-mg formulation of paroxetine (marketed as Brisdelle) as the first non-hormonal treatment of hot flashes.

    Good News: New Studies Show No Association Between Antidepressants and Risk of Autism

    Two recent epidemiologic studies have demonstrated an association between prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants (SSRIs) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; Croen et al 2011, Rai et al, 2013).  One important imitation of these two studies is that parental psychiatric disorder in itself is associated with an increased risk of ASD in the offspring, and these studies could not distinguish between the effects of drug exposure and the consequences of the underlying maternal psychiatric illness.  Two new studies shed light on the association between prenatal antidepressant exposure and risk of autism spectrum disorder in the offspring.

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