New study assures safety of anti psychotic drugs for pregnant women
Posted on: 19/Aug/2016 9:21:41 AM
A new study says that pregnant women on antipsychotic drugs can continue taking most of those medications without worrying the pills will increase the risk of their newborns having birth defects. The research was conducted by scientists at the Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and was published in JAMA Psychiatry.
According to the researchers, We did not see a meaningful increase in risk for any of the drugs with the exception of risperidone. Women taking the antipsychotic risperidone were about 26 percent more likely than women not taking antipsychotic drugs to give birth to children with birth defects. There is no biological reason risperidone would increase the risk of birth defects while others don`t. The finding is a safety signal that should be investigated. It definitely needs more study, We did a lot of analyses to see if we could explain that observation and we couldn`t.
The study says, Because of concerns surrounding the unknown effects of experimental drugs on women and fetuses, researchers have traditionally excluded pregnant women from clinical trials. That exclusion has led to a lack of information about the safety of some drugs during pregnancy. The amount of data and the methods used make this a landmark study.
Speaking about this, the researchers said, For women taking other medications besides risperidone, it is really solid data to show there is no identifiable increased risk of birth defects. People should not draw the conclusion that antipsychotic are completely safe during pregnancy. We only looked at birth defects, which is one potential outcome during pregnancy. We have plans to evaluate antipsychotic use for the risk of gestational diabetes and other pregnancy related outcomes.
