Paris: Children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy are more likely to suffer autism, but the added risk is very small and may not, in fact, stem from the drugs, researchers said Wednesday.
The connection between medications used to treat depression and autism in children has shown up in earlier research, but investigators have been unsure whether the link is down to pre-existing illness, the antidepressants, or some other mix of factors.
Seeking a clearer picture, scientists led by Dheeraj Rai at the University of Bristol in western England examined medical records for a quarter of a million individuals aged four to 17 living in Sweden from 2001 to 2011.
Nearly 5,400 of them were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
For the purposes of the study, published in the medical journal BMJ, mothers were divided into three groups.
They comprised those who did not take any antidepressants and showed no signs of mental illness; those who took antidepressants during pregnancy; and mothers with psychiatric disorders who did not take such drugs while pregnant.
Just over four percent of the children exposed to mood-enhancing medications were diagnosed with autism, while just under three percent of children not exposed to antidepressants -- and whose mothers had a history of psychiatric troubles -- were found to be on the spectrum.
The new investigation was not designed to investigate the cause for any link between antidepressants and the disorder.