Prenatal exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants and childhood behavior

Animal research has suggested that prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressant exposure causes increased anxiety-like behaviors in adulthood. We examined whether in utero SRI exposure influenced externalizing and internalizing behaviors in children at 3 y and again at 6 y of age.

We recruited women in their second trimester of pregnancy from primary maternity care providers in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. We compared the internalizing, externalizing, and the anxious and attention subscales of the internalizing behaviors scores of children exposed to SRIs and children not exposed to SRIs at age 3 and age 6.

We included 110 mother-child pairs (44 exposed to SRI and 66 not exposed). Higher levels of internalizing and anxious behaviors were reported in SRI exposed children at both 3 and 6 y of age compared with children who were not exposed (F = 7.52, P = 0.0072 and F = 7.91, P = 0.0058, respectively). The fully adjusted hierarchical regression models indicated a positive and significant relationship between SRI exposure and increased internalizing and anxious behaviors even when controlling for maternal mood during pregnancy, postpartum and childhood.

SRI exposure was associated with sustained higher levels of internalizing behaviors in early childhood even when controlling for maternal depression.