This study aimed to estimate the association between prenatal exposure to antidepressants and risk of epilepsy in childhood, taking maternal depression into account.

We conducted a population‐based cohort study including all Danish singletons born alive between 1997 and 2008 (n = 734 237). Information on antidepressant medication and diagnosis of depression and epilepsy was obtained from Danish National Registers. The exposed group comprised children of mothers who used antidepressants from 30 days before pregnancy until the date of birth. The reference group comprised children of mothers who used no antidepressants from 6 months before pregnancy to birth. We estimated the hazard ratios (HR) of epilepsy and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Cox proportional hazard models.

We identified 12 438 (1.7%) children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy (including 30 days before pregnancy) and 5829 (0.8%) children diagnosed with epilepsy in the follow‐up time (mean: 6.7 years). Children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy had a 27% higher risk of epilepsy (aHR: 1.27; 95%CI: 1.05–1.54) than children in the reference group. The estimate of this association was 1.71 (95%CI: 1.10–2.66) if their mothers also had a registry‐based hospital diagnosis of depression in the 6 months before pregnancy or during pregnancy and 1.14 (95%CI: 0.91–1.43) if their mothers had no registry‐based hospital diagnosis of depression. Children of mothers who used antidepressants from 2 to 6 months before pregnancy (but not during pregnancy) had an increased risk of epilepsy (aHR: 1.36; 95%CI: 1.07–1.73).

Antidepressant use during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of epilepsy among children whose mothers had also a registry‐based hospital diagnosis of depression during pregnancy. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.