Medications, Pregnancy and Lactation
Antidepressant use during pregnancy: Mother's health and development of the child
Antidepressants are among the most prevalent medications used during pregnancy (14%). As of now, evidence-based data are lacking on the effect of discontinuing vs. continuing antidepressant use during pregnancy on the overall health of the mother and the baby as well as the cognitive and behavioral development of children. Since the Canadian Psychiatric Association considers the appropriate treatment of depression during pregnancy a public health priority, the following research program is being conducted.
This study looks at the effect of discontinuing antidepressant use during pregnancy on: (1) the health and behavior of the mother during and after pregnancy, (2) the cognitive and behavioral development of the infant, and (3) the rates of preterm birth, major malformations, low birth weight and admissions to neonatal intensive care units. These different phases are studied using data collected from the North American field study on antidepressants. Ethics approval was obtained from the ethics committees of the CHU Sainte-Justine, the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Children’s Hospital (London Health Sciences Centre).