Antidepressants, depression in pregnancy and autism: what is the real association?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25118/2236-918X-7-5-4Keywords:
Autism spectrum disorders, autism, depression, antidepressants, pregnancyAbstract
In the early 2010s, researchers raised a suspicion that prenatal exposure to antidepressant use could contribute to an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Case-control studies have corroborated that idea, whereas cohort studies have shown inconsistente results. Researchers who used techniques to control for confounding variables, such as maternal age, depression severity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity, among others, found no significant association between antidepressant use during pregnancy and ASD. The group of women who take medication is diferente from the group of depressed women that do not take the drugs, and it is possible that these factors explain the different rates of autism found in their offspring. In addition, some family studies have shown increased rates of mood disorder in the parents of children with autism, also possibly suggesting that there is an overlap of genetic factors between mood disorders and ASD, which leads to another bias in research on this subject.
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