Health Canada warned the women especially the pregnant women about the risks of taking anti depressants. These anti depressant drugs known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) affect the fetus. Drugs like Prozac and Paxil may cause a condition called persistent pulmonary hypertension in babies born to women who took the drugs during pregnancy.
The recent study links SSRIs to this fatal condition among babies. But sudden discontinual of the drug also may result in serious side-effects. Hence the department had asked the women to discuss the issue with their doctors.In this condition the babies do not receive enough oxygen in the blood and require intensive-care treatment to survive. They were facing six times more risk than healthy babies to have been exposed to SSRIs.
But further research has to be done on this issue to confirm the results. Apart from this there were new research which showed that children exposed to SSRIs and other newer antidepressants during pregnancy may develop serious complications at birth. The department a list of drugs, Wellbutrin (bupropion); Celexa (citalopram); Cipralex (escitalopram); Prozac (fluoxetine); Luvox (fluvoxamine); Remeron (mirtazapine); Paxil (paroxetine); Zoloft (sertraline), Effexor (venlafaxine) and Zyban (bupropion).
