Pregnancy outcomes in psychiatric patients treated with passiflora incarnata

Passiflora incarnata is marketed in many countries as anxiolytic herbal supplement. Herbal medicines are natural products, but it doesn't mean they are always safe, especially during pregnancy. Passiflora incarnata extract was not teratogenic in experimental studies. However, there are no data available on possible effects on human pregnancy. Here we report five pregnant women with depression and/or anxiety who used passiflora incarnata in pregnancy. We observed one pregnancy resulting in neonatal death, two pregnancies with premature rupture of membranes, two infants with meconium aspiration syndrome and one infant with persistent pulmonary hypertension. No birth defects and no growth or developmental abnormalities for the live born infants were reported at 6 months of age. This observation is important since there have been no human reports about the use of passiflora incarnata in pregnant women. Pregnant women exposed to passiflora incarnata should be monitored, unless further data are available.