US Pharm. 2014;39(5):38.
Baltimore, MD—A large study found an association between prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delays (DD) in boys. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analyzed data on 966 mother-child pairs from a large population-based case-control study in which ASD and DD diagnoses were confirmed by trained clinicians using validated standardized instruments. Boys constituted 82.5% of the ASD group and 65.6% of the DD group. In boys, first-trimester exposure to SSRIs was linked to ASD, whereas third-trimester exposure was associated with DD. The substantially stronger association in boys versus girls suggests possible gender differences in the effect of prenatal SSRI exposure.
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