Anyone watching television lately has probably seen the ads by attorneys soliciting you to call if you've been on an antidepressant during your pregnancy. Many patients who are planning a pregnancy and taking anitidepressants have asked about the safety of these medications during pregnancy. This is a complex subject and those of you who know me are aware that I am rarely short on words. Therefore I will be dividing this subject into three posts: 1. What are the risks of not treating? 2. How should we treat depression during pregnancy/ Are antidepressants safe? 3. What do Dr. Gore, myself, and others recommend?
First, depression during pregnancy can be very serious. It can be life threatening if it gets to the place where a person is considering suicide. We must always remember this when treating patients. I believe that depression should always be treated during pregnancy, the questions is how?...to be continued Blog #2
It is estimated that 10-15% of pregnant women wil experience significant levels of depression during pregnancy and postpartum and it is frequently accompanied by anxiety. What are the risks of not treating? According to Dr. Jeffrey Newport of Emory Univesity School of Medicine in an "Update" publication from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, "depression, even of a less or moderate severity, has some signiciant adverse outcomes associated with it. Doubling to tripling of rates of preterm delivery, low birth weight, preeclampsia, neonatal intensive care admissions." There are the long-term adverse consequences as well: "Children whose mothers have been depressed or anxious during pregnancy are more likely to have an array of childhood developmental problems ranging from cognitive delay to behaviorql problems, and childhood anxiety". Wow. That's a big impact.
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