SummaryWe have collected information about 118 children born to mothers who were given lithium treatment during the first trimester of pregnancy. The data show that the risk of teratogenic effects is lower than one might have expected from some of the studies carried out on rats and mice; they do not answer the question of whether or not lithium is teratogenic in man. The data were collected retrospectively and therefore overestimate rather than underestimate the risk of teratogenicity. Introduction It has been known for many years that lithium (lithium salts, lithium ions) added to the medium surrounding eggs of sea urchins, snails, and other lower organisms may interfere with morphogenesis so that monsters are produced (Herbst, 1893;Schou, 1957

We have collected information about 118 children born to mothers who were given lithium treatment during the first trimester of pregnancy. The data show that the risk of teratogenic effects is lower than one might have expected from some of the studies carried out on rats and mice; they do not answer the question of whether or not lithium is teratogenic in man. The data were collected retrospectively and therefore overestimate rather than underestimate the risk of teratogenicity. Introduction It has been known for many years that lithium (lithium salts, lithium ions) added to the medium surrounding eggs of sea urchins, snails, and other lower organisms may interfere with morphogenesis so that monsters are produced (Herbst, 1893; Schou, 1957). Teratogenic lithium effects have also been shown in mammals. Szabo (1970) administered lithium by gavage to pregnant mice and induced cleft palate in up to 30% of the young. Wright et al. (1971) gave lithium intra-peritoneally to pregnant rats and found cleft palate in 39% of the young, external ear defects in 45%, and eye defects in 63%. Other studies with the same and different animal species (rabbits, monkeys) and with administration of comparable lithium doses in the drinking fluid, in the diet, intraperitoneally, or sub-cutaneously have failed to show teratogenic action of lithium

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