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Association between antidepressant drug use during pregnancy and child healthcare utilisation
Author(s) -
Ververs TF,
van Wensen K,
Freund MW,
van der Heide M,
Visser GHA,
Schobben AFAM,
de Jongvan den Berg LTW,
Egberts ACG
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02292.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , relative risk , antidepressant , confidence interval , cohort , psychological intervention , health care , pediatrics , psychiatry , anxiety , genetics , economics , biology , economic growth
Objective To evaluate healthcare utilisation by children who were exposed to antidepressant drug use during pregnancy and those whose mothers stopped using antidepressants before pregnancy compared with a control group. Design Cohort study. Setting Health insurance records in the Netherlands. Population A total of 38 602 children born between 2000 and 2005. Methods Survey of child healthcare utilisation in relation to gestational antidepressant use. Main outcome measure Healthcare utilisation rates during the first year of life, with special emphasis to medical care related to cardiac disease. Results Children of mothers who used antidepressants during pregnancy showed increased healthcare use during the first year of life, independent of the mother’s healthcare use. The relative risk of more than two visits to general practitioners was 1.5 (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.3–1.8) in the continuous antidepressant users group and 1.3 (95% CI: 1.2–1.5) in the group of children whose mothers stopped taking medication. In both study groups there was a trend towards more drug use for infections and inflammation compared with the control group. Children continuously exposed to antidepressants had an increased risk of cardiac interventions such as cardiovascular surgery or heart catheterisation, relative risk of 5.6 (95% CI: 1.8–17.4). The risk of physiotherapy was twice as high in the antidepressant group compared with the control group (relative risk 2.0; 95% CI: 1.5–2.6). Conclusion Antidepressant use during pregnancy is associated with increased child healthcare utilisation and increased risk of major cardiac interventions in early childhood.