Behavior and inhibitory control in children with prenatal exposure to antidepressants and medically untreated depression

Abstract

Analyses of variance revealed no effects of prenatal exposure to depression or SSRIs upon general cognition or inhibition. Regarding behavioral problems, there was a significant negative association between both SSRI and depression exposure upon externalizing, and between SSRI exposure and internalizing problems. The results are interpreted in light of theories on interactive specialization and reactivity.

Variations in Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Children with Prenatal SSRI Antidepressant Exposure

“…Moreover, deficits in reaction time reflected in event-related potential recordings while performing the flanker test under congruent versus incongruent conditions was associated with prenatal exposure to SSRIs and prenatal exposure to depression (Hermansen et al, 2017). In contrast, other studies did not find a relationship between SSRI exposure during pregnancy and children's EF skills (Galbally et al, 2015;Hermansen et al, 2016).…”

“…Over the past 2 decades, most studies have focused on health risks associated with in utero SSRI exposure during the early neonatal period (Oberlander et al, 2002(Oberlander et al, , 2006Laine et al, 2003;Chambers et al, 2006;Hanley and Oberlander, 2014). Now attention has turned to examining long-term neurodevelopmental effects (Oberlander et al, 2010; Weikum et al, 2013a;Hermansen et al, 2016). Importantly, there is growing evidence from animal models (Bairy et al, 2007;Kalueff et al, 2010;Pawluski, 2012;Darling et al, 2011) and from human models showing that early SSRI exposure can reverse or "buffer" the offspring from the adverse effects of prenatal exposures (Weikum et al, 2012(Weikum et al, , 2013b.…”

“…Hanley et al reported elevated internalizing behaviors and anxiety symptoms in SSRI-exposed children, even after adjusting for measures of pre-and postnatal maternal mood (Hanley et al, 2015). In contrast, externalizing behaviors were associated with maternal mood and not with SSRI exposure (Oberlander et al, 2007(Oberlander et al, , 2010Hanley et al, 2015;Hermansen et al, 2016). Even when mothers continued SSRI treatment 6 years postpartum, child behavior continued to be negatively associated with mothers mood, raising additional questions regarding the effectiveness of maternal SSRI treatment to control for the mother's mood symptoms (Hanley et al, 2015).…”

“…Given widely distributed connections of the serotonergic system throughout the prefrontal cortex, it is conceivable that SSRI exposure has an impact on cognitive development (Hermansen and Melinder, 2015). Initially, studies examining the relationship between SSRI exposure and cognitive outcomes focused on IQ, a cognitive construct that measures general intellectual functioning such as verbal reasoning and comprehension, fluid reasoning, spatial processing, and visual-motor integration (Nulman et al, 1997(Nulman et al, , 2002Mattson et al, 2002;Nulman et al, 2012;Eriksen et al, 2015;El Marroun et al, 2016b;Hermansen et al, 2016;Johnson et al, 2016).…”

“…To date, studies have reported adverse developmental risks associated with in utero SSRI exposure during early infancy (Oberlander et al, 2002;Laine et al, 2003;Oberlander et al, 2006;Chambers et al, 2006;Hanley and Oberlander, 2014). Neurodevelopmental effects later in childhood (Oberlander et al, 2010;Weikum et al, 2013a;Hermansen et al, 2016) have also been reported. Importantly, beyond prenatal SSRI exposure, variations in developmental outcomes also appear to reflect the ongoing role of maternal mood and interactions between genetic and epigenetic factors (Booij et al, 2013) as well as the environment (Non et al, 2014;Pawluski et al 2017;Brummelte et al, 2017) (Fig.…”