Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy and Asthma in the Offspring

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: It has been suggested that maternal depression during pregnancy is associated with asthma in the offspring, but the role of medical treatment of depression is not known. Our goal was to examine whether prenatal antidepressant use increases the risk of asthma in the offspring.

Prenatal maternal psychosocial stress and offspring's asthma and allergic disease: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…No experimental studies were found; therefore only analytical epidemiological studies were included, which comprised of 27 cohort studies, two case-control studies, and one cross-sectional study. The type of psychosocial stress indicators investigated in the studies included anxiety, [21][22][23][24]27,30,35,36,48,49 depression, [22][23][24]30,35,37,41,42 bereavemet, 29,32,38 work-related stress, 33,36,47,48 and NLEs, 19,20,25,26,28,31,34,39,40,[43][44][45][46]49,50 which were usually comprised of a composite of different indicators of stressors. Most studies assessed maternal stress using self-completed validated questionnaire; in a few studies maternal stress was assessed from population registers, particularly stress resulting from bereavement of a family member.…”

“…Most studies assessed maternal stress using self-completed validated questionnaire; in a few studies maternal stress was assessed from population registers, particularly stress resulting from bereavement of a family member. Twelve studies assessed the impact of maternal stress on asthma, 20,[27][28][29][30][31][32]34,37,38,42,46 eight studies on atopic eczema/dermatitis, [22][23][24]28,31,44,47,48 ten studies on wheeze, 20,[24][25][26][27][28]30,35,42,43,46 three studies on allergic rhinitis, 24,28,31 three on atopic sensitization, 27,31,42 and six studies on cord blood IgE or cytokines 19,21,36,39,45,50 (Table S1).…”

Prenatal Depression Risk Factors, Developmental Effects and Interventions: A Review

“…Researchers may need to study meta-analysis inclusion criteria to ensure that their studies can be included in meta-analyses. However, some of the inclusion criteria such as randomization may not be feasible because of the inherent difficulty of random assignment for this research including the ethical problems of assignment to anti-depressant vs. untreated groups and to therapy versus non-therapy groups [80]. Waitlist control groups are not an option because of cohort effects (different gestational age).…”

Association of Maternal Psychosocial Stress With Increased Risk of Asthma Development in Offspring

“…Previous studies mostly evaluated single measures or a limited number of measures of psychosocial stress or stress correlates (e.g., psychological functioning), including maternal negative life events ( 1 , 4 , 7 , 11 , 15 ), depression/anxiety ( 3 , 6 , 12 , 14 , 16 ), community violence ( 2 ), bereavement ( 5 , 8 , 13 ), job strain ( 9 ), and demoralization ( 10 ). These studies also varied in the outcome definition, where some evaluated wheezing symptoms ( 2 , 10 – 12 , 15 ) and others evaluated asthma ( 1 , 3 – 9 , 13 , 14 ). Furthermore, most of these studies relied on maternal reporting of childhood asthma, while only a few used information from national registries/administrative databases ( 5 , 8 , 13 , 14 ).…”

“…These studies also varied in the outcome definition, where some evaluated wheezing symptoms ( 2 , 10 – 12 , 15 ) and others evaluated asthma ( 1 , 3 – 9 , 13 , 14 ). Furthermore, most of these studies relied on maternal reporting of childhood asthma, while only a few used information from national registries/administrative databases ( 5 , 8 , 13 , 14 ).…”