SSRI Pregnancy Safety Study
In the last decade, consumption of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has been steadily increasing in several countries, including the USA and Finland, and up to 3% of women use these medications during pregnancy. There is conflicting data on the teratogenic effects of SSRIs, and nearly no information exists on more subtle sequelae, including neuropsychiatric consequences in the short-term and especially in the long-term.
The aims of the study are:
- Examine the relationship between SSRI use during pregnancy and perinatal complications.
- Evaluate the relationship between SSRI use during pregnancy and childhood/adolescent neuropsychiatric outcomes.
- Assess whether exposure to SSRIs during particular periods of pregnancy is associated with specific neuropsychiatric outcomes in offspring.
The present proposal will represent the first population-based birth cohort study of SSRI use and infant/ childhood outcomes. The comprehensive Finnish Drug Reimbursement Registry is being used to identify women who received SSRI medications during pregnancy 1996 – 2010, and developmental and neuropsychiatric outcomes are systematically recorded in Medical Birth, Congenital Malformation and Hospital/Outpatient Discharge registries. We expect to include 11 000 exposed pregnancies in the analyses. The epidemiological study is part of an international translational epidemiology project in close collaboration with Columbia University, New York, including animal studies, human phenotype studies and molecular genetic studies.