The safety of duloxetine during pregnancy and lactation

Depression is common in women, especially during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Untreated depression is associated with many adverse gestational outcomes. It is therefore important to know about the safety of different antidepressant drugs during pregnancy and lactation so that informed decisions can be made regarding treatment. This article summarizes published literature on the subject with regard to duloxetine, an antidepressant with serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibition properties. In general, it appears that the use of duloxetine during pregnancy is associated with an increase in the risk of spontaneous abortion, but no increase in other adverse outcomes, such as major fetal malformations. Late-pregnancy exposure to duloxetine may be associated with poor neonatal adaptation syndrome, but the magnitude of this risk is not known. Infant exposure to duloxetine in breast milk is less than 1% of the maternal weight-adjusted dose, suggesting that duloxetine can be safely administered to a woman who is breastfeeding her infant. In general, the very limited data available on the subject do not uncover a signal that the use of duloxetine during pregnancy or lactation increases the risk of adverse outcomes.