Antidepressants during pregnancy: a French drug utilisation study in EFEMERIS cohort

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have suggested that exposure to some antidepressants (AD) during pregnancy could be associated with an increased risk of congenital malformations and neurodevelopment disorders for the child. We conducted a study to describe the use of AD during pregnancy in France. Methods: We performed a drug utilisation study in EFEMERIS, a French cohort of pregnant women. At the time of the present study, 89,170 pregnant women, who were pregnant from 2005 to 2014 in Haute-Garonne were included. Prevalence and incidence of AD prescriptions during pregnancy, characteristics of AD users, and trends in AD use over the 10-year period were studied. Results: During the 10-year study period, 1620 women registered in EFEMERIS (1.8%) received at least one prescription and dispensation for AD during pregnancy: 1363 during the first (1.5%), 591 during the second (0.7%), and 412 during the third (0.5%) trimester. A total of 2874 women (3.2%) got a prescription for an AD during the 3 months before and/or during pregnancy; 2187 of them (76.1%) stopped AD before pregnancy or during the first trimester. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors represented the most prescribed class during pregnancy (1.3%). A very slight decrease in the prevalence of AD prescriptions in pregnant women over time (1.7% in 2014 vs 2% in 2005) and some variations within classes were observed. Conclusions: Nearly, 2% of women received antidepressant drugs during pregnancy. This assessment encourages following research on these drugs including the potential risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children after an exposure to antidepressants during pregnancy.