Antidepressants May Affect Head Size of Newborns

Pregnant women who take certain antidepressants may have an increased risk of giving birth to babies with reduced head growth, a new study suggests.

According to HealthDay News, researchers from the Sophia Children’s Hospital and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands found that pregnant women who took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had infants with smaller heads and those who did not take the antidepressants had babies with heads and smaller bodies. The results suggested that an imbalance in the brain’s serotonin can harm an infant’s developing brains.

Small head sizes from birth to four weeks may also predict psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems, noted researchers.

"If the depression is untreated, it affected the whole body; but if the mother used SSRIs, the head growth of the fetus was affected," said Hanan El Marroun, a post doctorate fellow in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at Sophia Children's Hospital and Erasmus Medical Center. "This may mean that smaller head growth is not explained by depression, but by the SSRIs."

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