University of Glasgow

Academic Institute

Michael Fleming - Chief Investigator - University of GlasgowMichael Fleming - Corresponding Applicant - University of GlasgowClaire Hastie - Collaborator - University of GlasgowDaniel Mackay - Collaborator - University of GlasgowDavid Blane - Collaborator - University of GlasgowJames McLay - Collaborator - University of AberdeenJill Pell - Collaborator - University of Glasgow

CPRD856

Psychotropic medicines work by adjusting and balancing the levels of important brain chemicals and are prescribed to treat a variety of mental health conditions. However, the prescribing of psychotropic medicines to pregnant women is avoided wherever possible because they can affect the development of, and cause harm to, the baby in the womb. Despite this, sometimes psychotropic medication cannot be avoided because it is required to treat short or long term mental health conditions during pregnancy. Harmful effects on the baby, which are immediately obvious at birth, have been reported for these medicines. Less is known however about the type of longer-term harm they may cause the baby in the womb, which may only be obvious in later years.

We will investigate pregnancy and child outcomes for women prescribed psychotropic medications during pregnancy (medications within BNF Chapter 4 including those prescribed for anxiety [BNF 4.1], psychosis [BNF 4.2], depression and mood disorder [BNF 4.3], ADHD [BNF 4.4], and epilepsy [BNF 4.8]) compared to a) women with the underlying conditions of interest who did not receive corresponding psychotropic medication and b) women who did not have these underlying conditions and did not receive psychotropic medication. We will ascertain women with pregnancies ending between 1st January 1991 and 31st December 2020 and link mother's Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) primary care and prescribing data to their children's CPRD primary care and prescribing, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient admission, and Office for National Statistics (ONS) death data.

15/02/2021

Release