Major Review: Antidepressants Safe in Pregnancy, No Added Risk of Autism or ADHD in Kids

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By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, Senior Medical Editor, B. Pharm. Last updated on May 15, 2026.

via HealthDay

FRIDAY, May 15, 2026 — There’s no clear link between antidepressant use during pregnancy and autism or ADHD in children, according to a new evidence review spanning more than half a million pregnancies.

Pooled data from three dozen studies found no significant association between antidepressants and developmental disorders in children, researchers reported May 14 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

“Our study provides reassuring evidence that commonly used antidepressants do not increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD in children,” said senior researcher Dr. Wing Chung Chang, chair of psychiatry with the University of Hong Kong.

“While all medications carry risks, so too does stopping antidepressants during pregnancy due to an increased risk of relapse,” Chang said in a news release. “Therefore, for women with moderate-severe depression, doctors and patients must carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits of continuing antidepressant treatment during pregnancy against the potential harms of untreated depression.”

For the new review, researchers found 37 studies involving nearly 650,000 pregnancies in which antidepressants were used, compared to nearly 25 million pregnancies not exposed to antidepressants.

At first results seemed to indicate a link, showing that antidepressant use during pregnancy was associated with a 35% higher risk of ADHD and 69% increased odds of autism.

But these risks disappeared after researchers accounted for other risk factors for ADHD and autism, such as mental health disorders among the child’s parents, researchers said.

“Although our study found a small increase in the risk of autism and ADHD in the children of women who had used antidepressants during pregnancy, it also found that this risk disappeared when we accounted for other factors,” Chang said.

“The increased risk was also seen in the children of fathers who took antidepressants and of mothers with antidepressant use before, but not during, pregnancy,” he said. “Together, this suggests that it is not the antidepressants themselves causing an increased risk in autism and ADHD but it is more likely to be due to other factors, including genetic predisposition to conditions such as ADHD, autism and mental health conditions.”

Looking more closely at types of antidepressants, the analysis found no link at all regarding first-line selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

An increased risk was found regarding drugs like amitriptyline or nortriptyline, but these are often prescribed in complex or severe cases of treatment-resistant depression, researchers said. Again, the severity of a mom’s depression could be confounding the risk apparently linked to antidepressants.

The review also found no risk between high and low doses of antidepressants taken by mothers.

“The evidence suggests a link between either parent having a mental health condition and a slightly higher risk of ADHD or autism,” said lead researcher Joe Kwun-Nam Chan, a research fellow at the University of Hong Kong.

“In addition to genetic factors, this link could be explained by the home and social environment as ongoing family stress, changes in how the family functions and differences in how parents behave and care for their children may influence neurodevelopment,” Chan said in the release.

Sources

  • The Lancet, news release, May 14, 2026
  • The Lancet Psychiatry May 14, 2026

    • Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

    Source: HealthDay

    Posted : 2026-05-16 02:24

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