National Pregnancy Registry for Psychiatric Medications

The overarching objectives of the National Pregnancy Registry for Psychiatric Medications are twofold: to assess risk for malformations among infants exposed to specific psychiatric medications and to assess neonatal outcomes associated with prenatal exposure to such medication. Specifically, the Registry will allow us to prospectively determine whether exposure to psychiatric medication is associated with any increased risk for major malformations above the baseline risk noted in the general population. This will be achieved by careful systematic documentation of medication exposure during pregnancy, as well as other relevant exposures often not included in small case series or published reviews of drug safety derived from large administrative databases.

Although psychiatric medications are widely used by reproductive age women, reliable data regarding the reproductive safety of many of these compounds is limited. As a result, clinicians often lack sufficient evidence to evaluate the risks and benefits of using medications to treat psychiatric disorders during pregnancy. The National Pregnancy Registry for Psychiatric Medications is one of the first, and largest, hospital-based pregnancy registries which will systematically and prospectively monitor pregnancy outcomes after exposure to psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, ADHD medications, sedative hypnotics, and atypical antipsychotics.

Primary Aim:

To prospectively evaluate rates of congenital malformations among infants exposed in-utero to psychiatric medications.

Secondary Aims:

1. To evaluate neonatal outcomes of infants with prenatal exposure to specific psychiatric medications alone or in combination with other psychotropics.

2. To evaluate maternal health outcomes associated with use of psychiatric medications during pregnancy.

3. To evaluate neurobehavioral development of children (1 month and older) with prenatal exposure to psychiatric medications.