Study shows no increased heart risk for newborns with mothers on Paxil

TORONTO According to a new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, infants whose mothers took the GlaxoSmithKline antidepressant drug Paxil during early pregnancy do not have an increased risk of heart defects.

The study was performed by the Motherisk program at the Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto. Almost 1,200 infants were studied and the results showed that infants who had been exposed to the medication had the same risk for the defects as infants not exposed, 0.7 percent.

GSK had originally published a report stating that risk of cardiovascular defects was 2 percent. Adrienne Einarson, the lead author of the new report called GSK’s initial report, “preliminary information.” GSK later adjusted its figure to 1.5 percent.

In general, the incidence of heart defects in the general population is about 1 percent.