Psychotropic medication use during pregnancy and gestational age at delivery.

Abstract Purpose Evaluate the association between psychotropic medication use during pregnancy and gestational age at delivery, after adjusting for depressive symptom and perceived stress severity. Methods We analyzed data on singleton live births from 2,914 female PRESTO participants, aged 21-45, with a reported conception from 6/2013-6/2018. Women reported psychotropic medication use at 8-12 weeks and ∼32 weeks’ gestation. We measured depressive symptoms using the Major Depressive Inventory (MDI) and perceived stress using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Data on gestational age at delivery were based on self-report and/or birth certificates. We used restricted mean survival time models, stratifying by severity of depressive symptoms (MDI Results Two hundred and ten (7.2%) participants reported using psychotropic medications during pregnancy. Mean gestational age at delivery among women who never used psychotropic medications was 38.2 weeks (95% CI: 37.7, 38.7), while it was 37.3 weeks (95% CI: 36.7, 37.9) among women who used psychotropic medications during pregnancy. Results were similar across strata of depressive symptoms and perceived stress. Conclusion Our data indicate that the association between psychotropic medication use and gestational age at delivery is not confounded by indication.