Infant and childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes following prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: overview and design of a Finnish Register-Based Study (FinESSI)

Experimental animal studies and one population-based study have suggested an increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcome after prenatal exposure to SSRIs. We describe the methods and design of a population-based study examining the association between prenatal SSRI exposure and neurodevelopment until age 14.

This is a cohort study of national registers in Finland: the Medical Birth Register, the Register of Congenital Malformations, the Hospital Discharge Register including inpatient and outpatient data, the Drug Reimbursement Register, and the Population Register. The total study population includes 845,345 women and their live-born, singleton offspring aged 14 or younger and born during Jan 1^st 1996-Dec 31^st 2010. We will compare the prevalence of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring exposed prenatally to SSRIs to offspring exposed to prenatal depression and unexposed to SSRIs. Associations between exposure and outcome are assessed by statistical methods including specific modeling to account for correlated outcomes within families and differences in duration of follow-up between the exposure groups. Descriptive results. Of all pregnant women with pregnancy ending in delivery (n = 859,359), 1.9% used SSRIs. The prevalence of diagnosed depression and depression-related psychiatric disorders within one year before or during pregnancy was 1.7%. The cumulative incidence of registered psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorders was 6.9% in 2010 among all offspring born during the study period (age range 0–14 years).

The study has the potential for significant public health importance in providing information on prenatal exposure to SSRIs and long-term neurodevelopment.