Summary: A new study in the BMJ links antidepressant use in pregnant women to a very small increased risk of autism in their offspring. Researchers discovered 4.1% of children exposed to antidepressants while in the womb were diagnosed with ASD, where as only 2.9% of children whose mothers had a history of mental health problems but did not take take medications were diagnosed with autism.

Source: Drexel University.

A new study found that antidepressant medications taken during pregnancy may be linked to the development of autism in children — although the effect appears to be limited.

In looking at a cohort of children born between 2001 and 2011 in Stockholm, Sweden, Drexel University’s Brian Lee, PhD, and Craig Newschaffer, PhD, and their co-authors (including lead author Dheeraj Rai, PhD, of the University of Bristol) found that children born to mothers…