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American Journal of Psychiatry
166:24A, March 2009
doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.166.3.A24
© 2009 American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Cameron Carter
Antidepressants and Gestational Hypertension
Women who continued to take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy were more than twice as likely as nonusers to develop gestational hypertension. Their risk of preeclampsia was more than four times normal. These estimates by Toh et al. (p. 320) were based on reports from 5,731 women who were interviewed within 6 months of delivery. Those who took SSRIs before pregnancy but stopped by the end of the first trimester did not have a significantly elevated risk of preeclampsia. The authors point out that the study does not differentiate between the effects of the medication and the depression itself. An editorial by Dr. Kimberley Yonkers on p. 268 explores the possible clinical implications of thesedata.