Anxiety, depression and other related disorders affect over 40 million Americans, leading these disorders to be the most common mental illness in the U.S.  The purpose of a study titled “Use of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in Pregnancy and Cardiac Malformations: a Propensity-Score matched Cohort in CPRD”, written by the US Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD, was to establish the connection between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and their damaging ability to cause cardiac malformations in exposed offspring.  464 pregnancies resulting in live births between 1996 and 2010 were studied.

This information was taken from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink’s Mother Baby Link.  The study weighted logistic regression for the use of estimating the odds ratio.  There was a 95 percent confidence interval of cardiac malformations overall and septal defects diagnosed in the first year of life.  Results from the study showed that 16 newborns with cardiac malformations were among the SSRI users, ten of these newborns were septal defects.  Septal defects are sometimes referred to as a hole in the heart, there is an abnormal opening in the dividing wall between the upper filling chambers of the heart.  48 newborns with cardiac malformations were found among non-users and 26 of these children had septal defects.    Odds ratio for cardiac malformations was found to be 1.00 and 1.15 for septal defects.

Author Margulis AV. From the above study states “Results were similar for cardiac malformations diagnosed in the first 6 years of life, and in several sensitivity analyses that were also implemented.”  This study found little to no association between maternal use of SSRIs in early pregnancy and cardiac malformations or septal defects in exposed children.

While this study did not show much connection between SSRIs and birth defects, many others do.  If you or a loved one used SSRIs during pregnancy and your child was born with a birth defect, contact our team of SSRI birth defect lawyers for a free, no-obligation case consultation at the information provided below.

(855) 452-5529

justinian@dangerousdrugs.us

Our SSRI Birth Defects Lawsuit Information page is a great place to start if you have any questions about SSRIs and Birth Defects.