Wellbutrin Side Effects Linked to Heart Birth Defect Risk: Study

The results of a recent medical study suggests that there may be an increased risk of heart birth defects from Wellbutrin when the antidepressant is taken during pregnancy. 

U.S. researchers, including scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examined the side effects of Wellbutrin on pregnant women in a study published last month by the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Wellbutrin (bupropion HCI), which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, was first approved by FDA as an antidepressant in December 1985. The drug was pulled a year later due to the high number of seizures associated with Wellbutrin side effects, but it was reintroduced in 1989 after federal reviewers determined that the seizures were dose specific and lowered the daily dosage of the drug.

Researchers in the latest birth defect study looked at 12,700 children born in the U.S. between 1997 and 2004. Scientists found that mothers who used bupropion during their first trimester were more than twice as likely to give birth to an infant with a congenital heart problem known as a left outflow tract defect.

The heart birth defect can restrict the flow of blood to the rest of the body from the heart’s left chambers, and often must be surgically corrected to allow the child’s main artery to function properly.

Researchers cautioned that the study does not draw a cause-and-effect relationship between Wellbutrin and birth defects, and further research is necessary. They also noted that it does not mean women on bupropion should stop taking the drug if they are planning a pregnancy. The overall number of children born with the defect was still small in cases where the mother took Wellbutrin in the first trimester; about 2 in every 1,000 births.