Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, JAMA, Mental Health Research, OBGYNE / 19.08.2016
Most Antipsychotics Found To Not Raise Risk of Congenital Malformations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Krista F. Huybrechts, M.S., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Epidemiologist
Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Boston, MA 02120
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The use of antipsychotic medications during pregnancy has doubled in the last decade. Yet, information on the safety of antipsychotic medication use during pregnancy for the developing fetus is very limited: existing studies tend to be small (the largest study available to date includes 570 exposed women) and findings have been inconsistent. Concerns have been raised about a potential association with congenital malformations.
The objective of our study was to examine the risk of congenital malformations overall, as well as cardiac malformations given findings from earlier studies, in a large cohort of pregnant women. We used a nationwide sample of 1.3 mln pregnant women insured through Medicaid between 2000-2010, of which 9,258 used an atypical antipsychotic and 733 used a typical antipsychotic during the first trimester, the etiologically relevant period for organogenesis. We also examined the risks associated with the most commonly used individual medications.
(more…)