Prenatal exposure to antipsychotic agents and the risk of congenital malformations in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Objective: To evaluate the association between antipsychotic use in pregnancy and the risk of congenital malformations in children.

Data sources: Searches of PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library were conducted from inception to 06 January 2020 using keywords: antipsychotics, pregnancy, pregnancy complication and congenital abnormalities.

Study selection: Of 38 reports initially identified as being of potential interest, 13 studies met our inclusion criteria: English observational studies that examined the association between gestational antipsychotic use and congenital malformations in children.

Data extraction: Data were extracted independently by 2 investigators including the publication year, study site, study period, data source, study design, sample size, medication exposure, exposure period and pregnancy definition, exposure as well as outcome ascertainment, selection of study and comparison group, confounding adjustment, statistical analysis, and method of linkage between mother and children. Risk estimates were pooled using a random-effect model and the I2 statistic was used to evaluate the degree of heterogeneity.

Results: Thirteen studies met our systematic review inclusion criteria. Six studies with a total of 2 515 272 pregnancy episodes were included in our meta-analysis, which provided a pooled adjusted risk ratio of 1.23, 95% confidence interval: 0.96–1.58. The I² result showed moderate heterogeneity between studies (I² = 35.2%, P = .173).

Conclusion: We did not find strong evidence of an association between prenatal exposure to antipsychotic medications and the risk of congenital malformations in children. We recommend further studies investigate this association, focusing on specific medication classes and dose responses, which would help clinicians decide whether to prescribe certain antipsychotics during pregnancy.