Prenatal antidepressant exposure is associated with

Introduction: Approximately 1 in 8 perinatal women have major mood disorders, most commonly major depressive disorder, which is often comorbid with anxiety disorders. Despite well-established risks of untreated mood disorders, many women choose to forgo antidepressant treatment due to concern about effects on the developing fetus, despite unclear evidence of its impact. We examined the association between prenatal maternal antidepressant use and fetal brain cortical thickness. Methods: Retrospective analyses of a cohort of prospectively recruited maternal-fetal pairs that underwent fetal MRI were used to assess the impact of antidepressant exposure. Cortical thickness was measured for 96 structural fetal MRI scans, 48 with and 48 without antidepressant exposure across 82 brain regions at mean gestational ages of 31.0 ± 4.2 and 30.9 ± 4.9 weeks. Using linear mixed effect models, controlling for gestational age at scan, global cortical thickness, and repeat scans, we tested differences between antidepressant exposed and unexposed fetuses. Subsequently, models were repeated with the inclusion of maternal stress to assess its impact on the associations. Results: Following multiple comparison correction, 11 regions exhibited significant differences between the two groups. Exposed fetuses showed greater cortical thickness in the bilateral superior orbital gyri ( Discussion: