What percentage of women who do not take medication while pregnant experience a relapse?
The six-fold higher rate estimate of relapse among pregnant women who discontinued antidepressants compared to those who continued medication5 need to be taken in the context of the women who were enrolled in this cohort study. They were all individuals who qualified for consideration of antidepressant treatment in pregnancy. They had multiple episodes of MDD and early onset of illness. These individuals, whether pregnant or not, medicated or not medicated, are at high risk of relapse. Even the women who were continued on medication had a pretty substantial rate of relapse. We have to be careful before extrapolating these data to other pregnant women with mood disorders, as many women may have minor depression, dysthymic disorder, a single episode, or a less virulent version of depression. We do not have the data to be certain, but it is entirely possible that the general population would not have the same rate of relapse as these investigators found in their study. The flip side is th
