Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41039087›Full record

SynthesisMolecular psychiatry2025

Depression and antidepressant use in pregnancy and adverse maternal and offspring outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Tingting Liu, Na Zeng, Yingying Xu, Tengteng Fan, Feng Wang, Chang Liu, Yimiao Zhao, Shuyu Ni, Huan Mei, Shuilin Wu and 7 more

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Molecular psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Placental Pathophysiology and Developmental Programming of Adult Cardiometabolic Risk: A Narrative Review of Pregnancy Exposures.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
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

17 authors.

Tingting Liu *National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Na Zeng *National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.ORCID 0000-0001-9522-918X
Yingying Xu *National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Tengteng FanInstitute of Mental Health, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Feng WangHealth Education Center of China, Beijing, 100011, China.
Chang LiuNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Yimiao ZhaoNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Shuyu NiNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Huan MeiNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Shuilin WuNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Xiujun ZhangSchool of Psychology, College of Public Health, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, Hebei Province, 063210, China.
Yongxiang WangInstitute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong Province, 250117, China.
Yumei WangDepartment of Psychology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong Province, 250021, China.
Suxia LiNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.ORCID 0000-0002-0781-0300
Jie ShiNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. shijie@bjmu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0001-6567-8160
Lin LuNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. linlu@bjmu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-0742-9072
Yanping BaoNational Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. baoyp@bjmu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-1881-0939

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveAntidepressant use during pregnancy has been increasing in the last few decades. A substantial body of evidence has indicated the increased risks of adverse health outcomes for both pregnant women and their offspring. The association may be biased by uncontrolled confounding of maternity depression or mental health status. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to generate comprehensive estimates of the association between depression, antidepressants, and reproductive outcomes.

methodsThe PubMed and Embase were searched from database inception to Jul 29, 2025, for longitudinal cohort studies of pregnant women with exposure to antidepressant or depression. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used for assessing the methodological quality of included studies. Pooled estimates of risk ratio (RR) were calculated by comparing adverse outcomes between antidepressant-exposed pregnancies and unexposed pregnancies. Subsequently, we analyzed the risks of antidepressant-treated, untreated antenatal depression by adjusting for disease factors. Totally, 20 adverse health outcomes including 6 maternal and 14 children's outcomes were accessed.

resultsA total of 166 studies with 51,596,405 participants were included. When antidepressant-exposed pregnancies were compared to all unexposed pregnancies (with and without depression), an increased risk for the majority (16/20) of the focused adverse outcomes was found. After adjusting for depression, results shows that certain adverse outcomes remained significant among untreated pregnancies. However, compared with untreated depressed women, the treated by antidepressant for depressed women during pregnancy was associated with the increased risk for limited outcomes of preterm birth and NICU admission. CONCLUTION: The findings indicated that many of the adverse outcomes observed with medication may be attributable to the underlying depression itself rather than of antidepressants. More attention should be paid to depression, and health professionals should estimate the risk of depression and antidepressant comprehensively during counseling and prenatal health care.

Indexed as

Antidepressive AgentsDepressionPregnancy ComplicationsPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornPregnancyPregnancy OutcomeAntidepressive Agents

Identifiers

PMID41039087

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.