Table 3 Neonatal outcome after lithium treatment during pregnancy: findings from clinical cohort studies
Study | Design | Sample size | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|
Jacobson et al. (1992) | Prospective cohort study | Exposed = 138 Controls = 148 | No difference in the rate of preterm birth Higher birthweight in lithium exposed neonates |
Troyer et al. (1993) | Cohort study | Exposed = 60 Disease matched non-exposed = 290 | Cohort of manic-depressive women: risk ratio for prematurity of 2.54 No difference in birthweight |
Cohort study | Exposed = 24 | Lower Apgar scores, longer hospital stays and higher rates of CNS and neuromuscular complications in infants with high lithium levels No statistically significant association with preterm birth or low birth weight | |
Diav-citrin et al. (2014) | Prospective cohort study | Exposed = 183 Disease matched non-exposed = 72 Controls = 748 | 2.3 times higher rate of preterm delivery in exposed group (13.7% versus 6.0%) No differences in birth weight |
Frayne et al. 2017 | Cohort study | Exposed = 19 | Eight neonates admitted to a special care unit |
Munk-Olsen et al. (2018) | Meta-analysis (six study sites) | Exposed = 727 Disease matched controls = 21,397 | No association between lithium exposure in utero and preterm birth (OR 1.24, 95% CI 0.83–1.84), low birth weight (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.72–1.35) or small for gestational age (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.67–1.21) A significant higher rate of neonatal admission (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.12–2.33) |