title: Association Between Antidepressants Use During Pregnancy and Autistic Spectrum Disorders: A Meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Antidepressants have been reported in several studies in the literature to be associated with the development of autistic disorder symptoms in children exposed to them during the time of their mothers' pregnancies. There have also been reports of neurodevelopment delays associated with exposure to antidepressants in the same conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched the PUBMED, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, and ERIC for original articles published between January 1983 and May 2013 to identify studies on the association between autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurodevelopment delays in children and exposure to antidepressants during pregnancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At the end of our preliminary work, we retained only three articles that were pertinent to the purpose of our study. We extracted the available data in Excel files and then did a meta-analysis. The final results showed a positive association between the exposure to antidepressants in utero and autistic spectrum disorders.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Rais is the Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, Ohio; Ms. Rais is from the Public Health Masters Program at the University of Toledo, Health Science Campus, Toledo, Ohio.
authors.forename: Theodor B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Rais
authors.affiliation: Dr. Rais is the Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, Ohio; Ms. Rais is from the Public Health Masters Program at the University of Toledo, Health Science Campus, Toledo, Ohio.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rais
keywords: Antidepressants; autistic spectrum disorders; meta-analysis; neurodevelopmental delays; pregnancy; r stats software