Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40033241›Full record

ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2025

Prenatal exposure to psychotropics and analgesics on cognitive, linguistic and educational outcomes - a scoping review with focus on validity and reliability of outcome measures.

Akhila Srinivas Reddy, Fatima Fawad, Mila Apostolova Leite, Emilie Willoch Olstad, Kristina Gervin, Chakravarthi Kanduri, Geir Kjetil Sandve, Ragnhild Brandlistuen, Angela Lupattelli, Janne von Koss Torkildsen and 1 more

Abstract readScoping Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Akhila Srinivas ReddyPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. a.s.reddy@farmasi.uio.no.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-7394-1425
Fatima FawadDepartment of Bioscience, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Mila Apostolova LeiteDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Emilie Willoch OlstadPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Kristina GervinPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Chakravarthi KanduriUiO:RealArt Convergence Environment, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Geir Kjetil SandveUiO:RealArt Convergence Environment, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Ragnhild BrandlistuenDepartment of Child Health and Development, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Angela LupattelliPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Janne von Koss TorkildsenDepartment of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Hedvig Marie Egeland NordengPharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo provide an overview of the observational studies on child's cognitive, linguistic, and educational outcomes following prenatal exposure to psychotropics and analgesics, including reporting of outcome measure validity and reliability. STUDY

designWe searched four databases, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and PubMed from inception to September 2023. We included all original studies involving participants less than 18 years old, who were prenatally exposed to psychotropics and/or analgesics with cognitive, linguistic, and/or educational outcomes and excluded those lacking comparison groups.

results80 studies were identified. Most studies (47%) focused on the effects of prenatal exposure to antiepileptics on child cognition. Valproate was consistently associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, whereas the results for other medications were sparse and conflicting. Neurodevelopmental outcomes were measured by psychometric assessments in 71 studies and by diagnostic codes in health care registries in nine studies. Only 33 of the 71 studies (46.5%) using psychometric measures mentioned the psychometric properties of the instruments used. In studies using diagnostic outcome measures, only one study reported positive predictive values and performed a sensitivity analysis to address outcome misclassification.

conclusionExcept for valproate, there is a concerning lack of studies on the impact of prenatal exposure to psychotropics and analgesics on cognitive, linguistic, and educational outcomes with existing studies yielding inconsistent findings. Regardless of whether psychometric measures or diagnostic codes were used, most studies lacked a robust assessment of outcome measures, which threatens their validity and interpretability. Future studies on long-term prenatal medication safety need to focus on the accuracy of neurodevelopmental outcome measures.

Indexed as

AnalgesicsCognitionOutcome Assessment, Health CarePrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsPsychotropic DrugsChildFemaleHumansNeurodevelopmental DisordersPregnancyPsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsAnalgesicsPsychotropic DrugsNeurodevelopmental outcomesPregnancy outcomesPrenatal medication exposurePsychometric properties

Identifiers

PMID40033241
PMCPMC11877934

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.