A recent population-based study, led by a famous epidemiologist Dr. Xiaoqin Liu in Denmark, has revealed that maternal depression and anxiety are not associated to an increased possibility of childhood asthma.

The study stated that the kids whose depressed mothers never took antidepressants during pregnancy don’t have an increased risk of childhood asthma.

Xiaoqing Liu, MD, section for epidemiology, department of public health at Aarhus University in Denmark, and colleagues, confirmed that when the analyses was restricted to children born to mothers with depression, maternal antidepressant use did not increase asthma risk in offspring (HR 1.00, 95% CI 0.93-1.08).

Doctors have classified prenatal maternal depression as “a diagnosis of depressive disorder or use of antidepressants 1 year before or during pregnancy”.

In Pediatrics, the authors reported that serotonin reuptake inhibitors (or SSRIs) were prescribed to the majority of women (80.8%) with prenatal maternal depression. They said that these “newer” drugs were not linked with an increased risk for asthma in offspring (HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.88-1.03),

The authors mentioned that the childhood asthma risk increased when women with prenatal depression were prescribed “older” antidepressants, for example tricyclic antidepressants or TCAs.

They said in fact the prescriptions for “older” antidepressants included 81% TCAs and the women taking TCAs were associated with only a 28% increased risk in childhood asthma (95% CI 1.06-1.56).

Furthermore, Liu called for the attention to the “sparse” research on antidepressant use in pregnancy on asthma compared with the substantial research about the effect of the medications on congenital malformation, aspiratory hypertension of the infant, behavior problems, and autism disorder.

Liu said, “The safety of antidepressant use during pregnancy has never been evaluated in randomized controlled trials. We hope our study will contribute knowledge to the safety of antidepressant use during pregnancy”.