Researchers link Prozac, newborn lung problems

NEW YORK — New research has linked the use of Prozac and other similar antidepressants during pregnancy to yet another complication in newborns: an uncommon but life-threatening lung problem.

Infants whose mothers took the antidepressants in the second half of pregnancy had six times the expected risk of developing the lung disorder, researchers reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

The antidepressants implicated are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, a class of drugs that includes Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.

"This is the latest in a series of troubling reports of possible adverse effects of SSRIs on the fetus," Dr. James Mills, of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

Other research has linked use of the antidepressants late in pregnancy to jitteriness, irritability, low blood sugar and difficulty breathing in some newborns. The Food and Drug Administration warned last year that Paxil may be associated with heart defects when taken during the first three months of pregnancy.

For ethical reasons, medications cannot be tested on pregnant women, and the possible effects of a drug on a fetus can be observed only after the medicine is on the market.

One of the researchers, Christina Chambers of the University of California, San Diego, said of the findings, "If it's a true risk, it's very low." According to the researchers' calculations, 99 percent of women who took the antidepressants late in pregnancy would deliver a child without the condition, called persistent pulmonary hypertension. The disorder develops after birth when the infant's lungs do not quickly adapt.

Dr. Sandra Kweder, deputy director of the FDA's Office of New Drugs, called the results worrisome and said the agency would issue a public-health advisory in a few days. However, she added, "I would emphasize that this isn't a cause for panic among women who are taking these medications."

Women should not stop taking the antidepressants on their own and should check with their doctors if they have concerns, Kweder said. "For many women, the small risk suggested by this study may be outweighed by their own personal need for treatment of a mental-health condition."