Evidence-Based Autism Drugs May Be Biased

NEW YORK -- Doctors' belief that certain antidepressants can help to treat repetitive behaviors in kids with autism may be based on incomplete information, according to a new review of published and unpublished research
The drugs, which include popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are sometimes used to treat repetitive behaviors in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Antidepressant-Autism Link Considered

Autism is on the rise, and no one has pinned down reasons, but researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center may have helped discover a cause: anti-depressants taken during pregnancy.
Their study, conducted with colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, exposed rat pups to the drugs.
Published online last month by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (www.pnas.org), the findings showed that when developing rats were given the antidepressants, their behavior mimicked that of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, including difficulty in communicating and relating to others.

Expectant Mothers Worry About Antidepressent Link

BOSTON -- Try Googling “Prozac pregnancy’’ and you’ll get a sense of the fear and confusion surrounding the relationship between the two.

“Anyone with experience on Prozac?’’ asks a woman on the community page of www.babycenter.com. Prescribed the antidepressant by her doctor, she writes, “I’m just really concerned and frankly scared to take them after reading all these articles and research. I’m 20 weeks 2 days, and I’m supposed to start on 10mg of Prozac this morning, but I’m staring at it right now and I don’t know what to do - should I take it?’’

Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy Linked to Autism Risk, Research Finds

Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) by pregnant women may increase the risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their offspring, new research suggests.
In a study of more than 1800 children, investigators found an adjusted 2-fold increased risk for ASD among mothers who used an SSRI during the year before delivery and a 3-fold increased risk when SSRIs were ingested during the first trimester.
"The potential association between use of antidepressants during pregnancy and risk of [ASDs] has never been investigated before," lead author Lisa A. Croen, PhD, senior research scientist and director of the Autism Research Program at Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) in Oakland, told Medscape Medical News.