• Helle Kieler, Miia Artama, Anders Engeland, Orjan Ericsson, Kari Furu, Mika Gissler, Rikke Beck Nielsen, Mette Nørgaard, Olof Stephansson, Unnur Valdimarsdottir, Helga Zoega, and Bengt Haglund.
• Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, T2, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. helle.kieler@ki.se
• BMJ. 2012 Jan 1;344:d8012.

ObjectiveTo assess whether maternal use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) increases the risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension in the newborn, and whether such an effect might differ between specific SSRIs.DesignPopulation based cohort study using data from the national health registers.SettingDenmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, 1996-2007.ParticipantsMore than 1.6 million infants born after gestational week 33.Main Outcome MeasuresRisks of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn associated with early and late exposure to SSRIs during pregnancy and adjusted for important maternal and pregnancy characteristics. Comparisons were made between infants exposed and not exposed to SSRIs.ResultsAround 30 000 women had used SSRIs during pregnancy and 11 014 had been dispensed an SSRI later than gestational week 20. Exposure to SSRIs in late pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension in the newborn: 33 of 11 014 exposed infants (absolute risk 3 per 1000 liveborn infants compared with the background incidence of 1.2 per 1000); adjusted odds ratio 2.1 (95% confidence interval 1.5 to 3.0). The increased risks of persistent pulmonary hypertension in the newborn for each of the specific SSRIs (sertraline, citalopram, paroxetine, and fluoxetine) were of similar magnitude. Filling a prescription with SSRIs before gestational week 8 yielded slightly increased risks: adjusted odds ratio 1.4 (95% confidence interval 1.0 to 2.0).ConclusionsThe risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn is low, but use of SSRIs in late pregnancy increases that risk more than twofold. The increased risk seems to be a class effect.

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