A large-scale study out of Scandinavia found that women's use of a popular class of anti-depressants during pregnancy doubles the chance that their infants are born with a serious and potentially fatal lung disorder. The findings reflect those published in an American study that cause the Food and Drug Administration to temporarily caution expectant women dealing with depression against using the anti-depressants while pregnant.

Readers of this Alabama product liability blog may recall the earlier study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006. That report found that the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during the second trimester of pregnancy increased the risk the infant would be born with pulmonary hypertension by six times. Pulmonary hypertension is a condition that causes high blood pressure in the lungs, making it difficult for the baby to breath. The disorder can cause organ failure and brain damage, and is fatal in 11 percent of cases.

The FDA reversed its recommendation in December 2011, citing "conflicting results" in various studies.

The latest study, which examined the records of 6 million births from 1996 to 2007 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, suggests that the intake of SSRIs during pregnancy doubles the chances the infant will develop pulmonary hypertension. The figure is more conservative than the 2006 study, but still significant, and physicians said the large number of infants included in the study lends it a strong amount of credibility.

The SSRI class includes popular antidepressants like Zoloft and Paxil.

Source: ABC News, "Antidepressants Linked to Hypertension in Babies," Lara Salahi, and Hadi Halazun, M.D., Jan. 13, 2012