Posts Tagged ‘Pregnancy’

Lawyers & Settlements—Mom Alert: Would you want a 68% Higher Risk of Miscarriage? (Antidepressants & Pregnancy study)

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Lawyers & Settlements
By LucyC
June 2, 2010

A new study out yesterday—June 1, 2010—has revealed a higher rate of miscarriages in women who were taking antidepressants during pregnancy. How much higher? Sixty-eight percent—yes —that’s 68%—higher. Frankly, that is nothing short of shocking.

Published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the study was done in Canada through the University of Montreal. FYI—This was no small study either—the investigators used data from 5,124 women who are part of a large, population-based study of pregnant women who had clinically verified miscarriages, and a large sample of women from the same registry who did not have a miscarriage. Among the women who miscarried, 284 or 5.5 percent, had taken antidepressants during their pregnancy.

In fact the findings are so robust that the physicians who did the study are suggesting that this is a class effect—in other words the effect could be attributed to all selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors—or SSRIs. Here’s what’s being reported in the press:

“These results, which suggest an overall class effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are highly robust given the large number of users studied,” the study’s senior author, Dr. Anick Berard, said in a statement. (UPI.com)

The antidepressants that showed a particular association with miscarriage in the study were paroxetine (trade names: Seroxat and Paxil) and venlafaxine (trade names: Effexor, Efexor, Alventa, Argofan, Trevilor). The investigators also found that the risk of miscarriage doubled with a combination of different antidepressants.

Just for the record, the antidepressants “investigated” in the University of Montreal study are serotonin reuptake inhibitors (citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxa-mine, paroxetine and sertraline); tricyclic antidepressants (ami-triptyline, clomipramine, desipramine, doxepin, imipramine, nortriptyline, trimipramine), serotonin– norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (venlafaxine) and “other antidepressants” (serotonin modulators, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, tetracyclic piperazino-azepines, and dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors).

This study is just the latest to show an association between, well, for lack of a better term let’s say “serious adverse events” and SSRIs and SNRIs in particular.

Read entire article:  http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/blog/mom-alert-would-you-want-a-68-higher-risk-of-miscarriage-03819.html

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New Study—Taking Antidepressants While Pregnant More Than Doubles Risk of Miscarriage

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Los Angeles Times
By Thomas H. Maugh II
May 31, 2010

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy increases the risk of spontaneous abortions by about two-thirds, Canadian researchers reported Monday. The increased risk was greatest with the family of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), especially paroxetine and venlafaxine, and when more than one family of drugs were used.

Depression in women is most common during the child-bearing years, and estimates suggest that as many as 15% of pregnant women suffer from it. Because of fears about the effects of drugs, particularly psychiatric drugs, during pregnancy, only about 3.7% of women use them during the first trimester. Most studies looking at the use of antidepressants during pregnancy have focused on their effects on the fetus. Small studies of their effects on abortion have produced inconsistent results. Expecting mothers cannot routinely stop using the drugs, however, because that also presents risks to both the mother and the fetus.

Producing a controlled clinical trial examining the effects of the drugs is virtually impossible because few women would be willing to participate, experts said. The only way to get at the data is to examine it retrospectively.

In the new study, Dr. Anick Berard, director of the University of Montreal’s Research Unit on Medications and Pregnancy at University Hospital Center Sainte-Justine used information from the Quebec Pregnancy Registry to identify 5,124 women who had a spontaneous abortions between 1998 and 2003 — before warnings about the risks of the drugs became more common — and compared them with about 10 times that many carefully matched women who did not have abortions. A separate database provided information about prescriptions the women had filled.

Read entire article:  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/05/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-increase-risk-of-sponaneous-abortion-study-finds.html

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UK Drug Regulatory Agency issues warning about potential birth defects from Prozac

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Lawyers & Settlements
By Heidi Turner
April 28, 2010

London, England: The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government agency in the UK responsible for medicines and medical devices, has issued a warning about potential SSRI birth defects related to the use of fluoxetine (Prozac).

The MHRA issued the warning in its monthly drug safety update. The agency warns that there is a small risk of congenital cardiac defects in infants of mothers who took fluoxetine during the first trimester of pregnancy. According to the safety update, the risk is similar to that posed by paroxetine (Paxil/Seroxat).

The MHRA notes that an analysis of data from seven cohort studies found a slightly increased risk of congenital cardiac defects when fluoxetine was taken early in pregnancy. Those cardiac defects reportedly varied and ranged in severity from reversible ventricular septal defects to transposition of the great vessels. The safety update notes that the increased absolute risk is less than two per 100 pregnancies.

Prozac is an antidepressant classed as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). The MHRA says that there is not enough data to conclude that other SSRIs carry the same risk, but it is unwilling to rule out the possibility of a “class effect,” meaning other drugs in the same class may carry the same risks.

The agency also says that the risk of giving birth to an infant with congenital cardiac defects should be weighed against the risks of having untreated depression during pregnancy, which carries its own risks, including low birth weight, preterm delivery and lower Apgar scores.

Read entire article:  http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/14025/interview-ssri-birth-defects-side-effects-pphn.html

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UK: Pregnant women warned about antidepressants

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Bounty
March 12, 2010

Women expecting a baby have been warned over taking Prozac while they are pregnant, after a new study found it could be harmful to an unborn child.

According to a study from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency there is a “small risk” of babies developing heart problems should their mother take the drug early on in their pregnancy.

The researchers behind the study said that pregnant mothers who use Prozac could be twice as likely to have children with a congenital heart problem, such as a murmur, or a hole in the heart.

Read entire article:  http://www.bounty.com/node/2191

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And yet another FDA warning – Depakote – used to treat people diagnosed “Bipolar” found to cause severe birth defects

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

FDA MedWatch Safety Information
Dec. 3, 2009

Audience: Neurological and Obstetrical healthcare professionals

The FDA notified health care professionals and patients about the increased risk of neural tube defects and other major birth defects, such as craniofacial defects and cardiovascular malformations, in babies exposed to valproate sodium and related products (valproic acid and divalproex sodium) during pregnancy. Healthcare practitioners should inform women of childbearing potential about these risks, and consider alternative therapies, especially if using valproate to treat migraines or other conditions not usually considered life-threatening.

Read entire article:  http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm192788.htm

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Pregnant women should stop medications which cause birth defects: “Psychiatric drugs can & should be avoided”

Monday, November 30th, 2009

The Daily Inquirer
November 29, 2009

Canadian researchers are saying that women who are planning to become pregnant should take an inventory of the medications they take.

The researchers have found that many pregnant women still take medications which can cause birth defects.

Dr. Anick Berard, at the University of Montreal in Quebec, said drugs that control epilepsy are essential during pregnancy, albeit known to have fetal risk.

However, medications such as those which treat severe acne, anxiety and psychiatric drugs, antibiotics, and many drugs prescribed for heart disease and medical conditions “can and should be avoided,” according to Berard.

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Believe it or not, NAMI says ‘safest way to treat severe depression in a pregnant woman is probably electroconvulsive (ECT) therapy’

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Believe it or not, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI),a “patient’s rights group” for the mentally ill, is promoting Electroshock (ECT) for pregnant women as safe and effective. NAMI has recently been exposed for their extensive Pharma funding (3/4 of their donations; $23 million came from Pharma ) which may help explain their long standing promotion and fierce endorsement of psychiatric drugs which they are now attempting to downplay after being the subject of a Senate investigation. Not surprising then is the fact that NAMI also lists Cyberonics, an ECT machine manufacturer as one of NAMI’s Corporate Sponsor in 2008.

From NAMI’s website “The safest way to treat severe depression in a pregnant woman is probably electroconvulsive (ECT) therapy. Patients and families are sometimes frightened by the idea of “shock treatment,” but in fact ECT is safer than antidepressant medication for a depressed pregnant woman. It can be used during any state of pregnancy, but is less risky after the first trimester. The most common side effect of ECT is short term memory loss. Less frequent side effects usually respond to simple treatment. These may include: headaches, mild muscle soreness, nausea, adverse reactions to anesthetic or muscle relaxants, and heartbeat irregularities.

Read entire article: http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Pregnancy_Pointers_for_Women_with_Psychiatric_History.htm

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Pregnant women on antidepressants double risk of premature deliveries: infants more likely to need intensive care

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Julie Steenhuysen
ABC News
October 5, 2009

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Danish women who took antidepressants during pregnancy had twice the risk of pre-term delivery as other women, and their babies were more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit than those of women who did not take the drugs, researchers reported on Monday.

They said antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, which affect a message-carrying brain chemical called serotonin, may raise the risk of pre-term delivery and affect a baby’s health at birth.

Some prior studies have found that drugs in this class can cross the placenta and appear in the umbilical cord blood of babies whose mothers have taken them.

“The study justifies increased awareness to the possible effects of intrauterine exposure to antidepressants,” Dr. Najaaraq Lund of the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau, and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Read entire article: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=8757454

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Australia’s $80 billion plan to screen pregnant women mirrors U.S. Mothers Act: Bogus screenings produce false positives

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Michael Woodhead
6minutes.com.au
September 7, 2009

Researchers have sounded a note of caution about the government’s $80 million scheme to introduce routine screening for depression for all pregnant women.

Writing in the MJA (191: 276-79 ) today, researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne warn that the screening tools are imperfect and there is a risk of focusing too much on providing interventions such as antidepressants and CBT rather than exploring broader psychosocial issues such as partner violence, co-morbid health problems and housing.

The National Perinatal Depression Plan announced in the recent budget  proposes to introduce routine screening during pregnancy and after birth. But the researchers say there is little evidence to support such interventions, with screening tools producing high rates of false positives and negatives for depression.

They say screening has potential to do harm, with many women being upset at being labeled as having a mental health problem and reluctant to discuss mental health issues with antenatal care providers.

Read entire article: http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=497263

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The Mothers Act Disease Mongering Campaign – Part V

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Evelyn Pringle
NaturalNews.com
August 28, 2009

In the title of a paper in the May, 2009, Journal of Affective Disorders, Stephen Matthey, of the University of Sydney Infant, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service Research Unit in Australia, asks, “Are we overpathologising motherhood?”

The paper was critical of self-report screening measures such as the Edinburgh Depression Scale for overestimating the rate of psychiatric disorders in motherhood. “The properties of the Edinburgh Scale show that around 50% of women scoring high are not in fact depressed,” the paper’s abstract reports.

The paper was further critical of the high percentage of women being screened as ‘at-risk’. Classifying women to be ‘at-risk’ based upon “the presence of a single risk factor is questionable given that the majority of women with risks do not become depressed, and also the rate of women reported to have at least one risk (up to 88%) is so high as to negate the usefulness of this concept,” the abstract warns.

Matthey also questioned the use of the diagnostic criteria for depression in the DSM IV, such as weight loss, sleep problems and fatigue, which could easily be attributed to new parenthood rather than depression.

Read entire article: http://www.naturalnews.com/026933_pregnancy_depression_SSRI.html

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