At the top of the list are three articles (and one commentary) looking at the risk of autism in children exposed to SSRIs. We will soon cover these reports in greater detail; however, the short story is that these studies do not support an association between exposure to SSRIs during pregnancy and increased risk of autism.  

Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders According to Period of Prenatal Antidepressant Exposure: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Mezzacappa A, Lasica PA, Gianfagna F, Cazas O, Hardy P, Falissard B, Sutter-Dallay AL, Gressier F.  JAMA Pediatr. 2017 Apr 17.

Associations of Maternal Antidepressant Use During the First Trimester of Pregnancy With Preterm Birth, Small for Gestational Age, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Offspring.

Sujan AC, Rickert ME, Öberg AS, Quinn PD, Hernández-Díaz S, Almqvist C, Lichtenstein P, Larsson H, D’Onofrio BM.  JAMA. 2017 Apr 18;317(15):1553-1562.

Association Between Serotonergic Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children.

Brown HK, Ray JG, Wilton AS, Lunsky Y, Gomes T, Vigod SN.  JAMA. 2017 Apr 18;317(15):1544-1552.

Disentangling Maternal Depression and Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy as Risks for Autism in Children.

Oberlander TF, Zwaigenbaum L.  JAMA. 2017 Apr 18;317(15):1533-1534.

Commentary on above articles

Prevalence and predictors of positive screening for postpartum depression in minority parturients in the South Bronx.

Doe S, LoBue S, Hamaoui A, Rezai S, Henderson CE, Mercado R.  Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Apr;20(2):291-295.

Overall, Black and Hispanic parturients had similar rates of positive screens for PPD. Among the Hispanic women, immigrants had higher rates of positive screens, with those from Mexico, Central, and South America as the highest.

Perinatal suicidal ideation and behaviour: psychiatry and adversity.

Onah MN, Field S, Bantjes J, Honikman S.  Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Apr;20(2):321-331.   Free Article

The 1-month prevalence of suicidal ideation and behaviours or SIB was 18%. SIB was associated with psychiatric illness, notably major depressive episode (MDE) and any anxiety disorder. However, 67% of pregnant women with SIB had no MDE diagnosis, and 65% had no anxiety disorder, while 54% had neither MDE nor anxiety disorder diagnoses. Factors associated with SIB included lower socio-economic status, food insecurity, interpersonal violence, multiparousity, and lifetime suicide attempt.

The worldwide incidence of neonaticide: a systematic review.

Tanaka CT, Berger W, Valença AM, Coutinho ES, Jean-Louis G, Fontenelle LF, Mendlowicz MV.

Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Apr;20(2):249-256.

Most of the studies included were from Europe, where the incidence of neonaticide varied from 0.07 (Finland) to 8.5 neonaticides per 100000 births (Austria).

Depression during the menopause transition: impact on quality of life, social adjustment, and disability.

Wariso BA, Guerrieri GM, Thompson K, Koziol DE, Haq N, Martinez PE, Rubinow DR, Schmidt PJ.  Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Apr;20(2):273-282.

A small study: 90 with perimenopausal major depression (PMD) and 51 control women. Women with PMD reported significantly decreased QOL, social support, and increased disability compared with non-depressed perimenopausal women. Neither perimenopausal reproductive status alone nor the presence of hot flushes had a significant negative impact on QOL measures.

Symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy and their association with low birthweight in Chinese women: a nested case control study.

Yang S, Yang R, Liang S, Wang J, Weaver NL, Hu K, Hu R, Trevathan E, Huang Z, Zhang Y, Yin T, Chang JJ, Zhao J, Shen L, Dong G, Zheng T, Xu S, Qian Z, Zhang B.

Arch Womens Ment Health. 2017 Apr;20(2):283-290.

Women with depression or anxiety during pregnancy only were not at higher risk of having a low birth weight baby, but depression with comorbid anxiety was associated with increased risk of LBW (crude OR 1.41), and the significant association was particularly evident in preterm but not in full-term births.

 

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