[Effects of psychiatric drugs on the fetus and newborn children. Consequences of the treatment of psychiatric disorders during pregnancy and lactation].
The management of mental disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period confronts the psychiatrist to a complex clinical situation. The cero risk utopia should be changed for a more realistic approach which considers the risks of having a conservative conduct (assuming the consequences of the untreated mental disorders) or making a psychopharmacological intervention knowing the expectable effects on the fetus and the offspring. The antidepressants and the conventional antipsychotics seem to be safe drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy. The benzodiazepines and the mood stabilizers are linked with the appearance of teratogenic malformations after the first trimester exposure. In the present article, the pharmacokinetic peculiarities of the pregnancy and the newborn and the general considerations of the psychopharmacological management of this kind of patients are described. At last, there is a review of the literature about the effects of the different groups of psychiatric drugs on the fetal growth, their passage to maternal milk and their impact on the newborn.
Mazaira
Silvina
S
Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. smazaira@arnet.com.ar
D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007774:Lactation; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018570:Risk Assessment
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs