SSRI exposure before birth may impact cognitive skills years later

Mental Health Matters | A group of children exposed to selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) before birth had better thinking and attention skills at age 12, compared with other children,

...according to a study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2018 Meeting in Toronto, Canada.

The longitudinal cohort study, led by researchers from BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre in Vancouver, followed 51 children from 26 weeks of pregnancy to age 12.

• Researchers assessed the mother’s mood during and after pregnancy and the child’s executive functions, including creative problem-solving, the ability to focus, and self-control.

Even when controlling for the mother’s mood during pregnancy and when the child was 12, children exposed to SSRIs in utero demonstrated better executive function at age 12, the study found.

A previous study also identified better executive function in the same children at age 6.

• Unlike at age 6, though, at age 12 the improved executive function did not vary with the child’s mood or verbal ability.

“These are important early findings and further research is needed to examine whether ‘better’ cognitive skills in children with antidepressant exposure reflect a developmental advantage in some ways but also perhaps a risk in other ways, such as perhaps increased anxiety,” said researcher Tim Oberlander, MD.

“Our findings when the children were 3 and 6 years of age indicated increased anxiety, though the absence of this at 12 years might indicate that as executive functions improve further, children are able to use them to help calm themselves.”

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