Healio (6/8, Downey) reports, “Maternal antidepressant use increases the risk for newborn respiratory distress and preterm birth,” investigators concluded in a study that “included 15,041 pregnancies in which there was antidepressant use and a delivery from 2012 through 2016.” The study revealed “an increased risk for newborn respiratory distress among babies born to mothers with low, moderate or high use of antidepressants, and an increased risk for preterm birth associated with moderate to high sustained doses compared with low use.” The findings were published online June 4 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Maternal antidepressant use poses risk for newborn respiratory distress, preterm birth, “Ken Downey Jr. , Healio, June 8, 2020

Healio (6/5, Gramigna) reported, “Quetiapine may need a new” boxed warning “because of its association with prolonged and sometimes painful erections known as priapism,” investigators concluded in a poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology Annual Meeting (virtual). The article did not mention how many people were included in the case study.

Related Links:

— “Risk for prolonged erection may warrant new black box warning for quetiapine, researchers say, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, June 5, 2020

The Washington Post (6/7, Cha, Guarino, Wan) reports physicians, “nurses and emergency medical technicians are supposed to be the superheroes of the pandemic.” However, “many confide that the past months have left them feeling lost, alone, unable to sleep.” In addition, “they second-guess their decisions, experience panic attacks, worry constantly about their patients, their families and themselves, and feel tremendous anxiety about how and when this might end.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post, (Requires Subscription)

The New York Times (6/5, Goldberg) reported the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted treatment for many people with eating disorders, and the social isolation and changes in routine have added to the anxiety that many of these patients experience. The New York Times adds, “Roughly one in 10 Americans struggle with disordered eating, and the pandemic has created new hurdles for those managing difficult relationships with food.”

Related Links:

— “Disordered Eating in a Disordered Time, “Emma Goldberg, The New York Times, June 5, 2020

The New York Times (6/3, Bakalar) reports, “Women who take benzodiazepines…before becoming pregnant may be at increased risk for ectopic pregnancy,” researchers concluded after using “an insurance database of 1,691,366 pregnancies to track prescriptions for benzodiazepines in the 90 days before conception.” The study revealed that such “women were 47 percent more likely to have a tubal pregnancy than those who did not.” The findings were published online June 3 in the journal Human Reproduction.

Also providing similar coverage are MedPage Today (6/3, D’Ambrosio), MD Magazine (6/3, Rosenfeld) and HealthDay (6/3, Gordon).

Related Links:

— “Benzodiazepines Tied to Higher Risk of Ectopic Pregnancy, “Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times , June 3, 2020