LONDON: Children exposed to antidepressants during their mothers’ pregnancies seem to have a slightly higher risk of autism than children whose mothers had psychiatric disorders but did not take antidepressants while pregnant, a study has found.
But publishing their findings on Wednesday, researchers said the results should not cause alarm, since the absolute risk of a child developing autism remains very small.
Depression is common in women of childbearing age. In Europe, experts say that between 3 and 8 percent of pregnant women are prescribed antidepressants.
Several previous studies have suggested associations between antidepressant use during pregnancy and autism in offspring, but researchers say it is not clear whether this is due to the illness itself, the antidepressants, or other unknown factors.
A Canadian study published late in 2015 found that women who take antidepressants while pregnant may be more likely to have children with autism — but it also noted that the overall risk is very low.
For this research, a team led by Dheeraj Rai at Britain’s University of Bristol, analyzed data from more than 254,000 children living in Stockholm, Sweden, aged between 4 and 17.
Their mothers were either women with no mental illness who had not taken antidepressants, women who’d had a disorder and taken antidepressants while pregnant, or women with psychiatric disorders who had not taken antidepressants during pregnancy.
Of the 3,342 children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy, the study found that 4.1 percent were diagnosed with autism, compared with 2.9 percent of the 12,325 children not exposed to antidepressants whose mothers had a history of a mental illness.
The researchers stressed, however, that the absolute risk was small: More than 95 percent of women in the study who took antidepressants during pregnancy did not have an autistic child.
They estimated that, even if the association between antidepressant use and autism is causal, only 2 percent of cases would be prevented if in future no women with psychiatric disorders took antidepressants when pregnant.
In a commentary on the findings, published in the BMJ British medical journal, Diana Schendel at Denmark’s Aarhus University said the findings “should be viewed through the kaleidoscope of possible causes of autism.”
She said the small apparent increased risk of a child developing autism “must be carefully weighed against the substantial health consequences associated with untreated depression.”
Study finds slight autism risk link to antidepressants during pregnancy
Study finds slight autism risk link to antidepressants during pregnancy
BMW Art Cars mark 50 years at inaugural Art Basel Qatar
DOHA: BMW’s long-running Art Car initiative took center stage at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, with Thomas Girst, BMW Group’s head of cultural engagement, reflecting on five decades of collaboration between artists, engineers and the automobile.
Speaking at the fair, Girst situated the Art Car program within BMW’s broader cultural engagement, which he said spanned “over 50 years and hundreds of initiatives,” ranging from museums and orchestras to long-term partnerships with major art platforms.
“Every time Art Basel moves — from Miami to Hong Kong to Qatar — we move along with them,” he said. “That’s why we’re here.”
The occasion also marked the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car series, which began in 1975 with Alexander Calder’s painted BMW 3.0 CSL. Since then, the project has grown into a global collection that brings together motorsport, engineering, design and contemporary art. “Those Art Cars speak to a lot of people at the intersection of motorsports, technology, racing engineering, arts, lifestyle and design,” Girst said.
For Girst, the relationship between art and the automobile has deep historical roots. He pointed to early modernist fascination with cars, noting that “since the inception of the automobile,” artists have seen it as both a subject and a symbol of modernity. “There’s a reason for arts and culture and cars to mix and mingle,” he said.
At Art Basel Qatar, visitors were invited to view David Hockney’s BMW Art Car — Art Car No. 14 — displayed nearby. Girst described the work as emblematic of the program’s ethos, highlighting how Hockney painted not just the exterior of the vehicle but also visualized its inner life. The result, he suggested, is a car that reflects both movement and perception, turning the act of driving into an artistic experience.
Central to BMW’s approach, Girst stressed, is the principle of absolute artistic freedom. “Whenever we work with artists, it’s so important that they have absolute creative freedom to do whatever it is they want to do,” he said. That freedom, he added, mirrors the conditions BMW’s own engineers and designers need “to come up with the greatest answers of mobility for today and tomorrow.”
The Art Car World Tour, which accompanies the anniversary celebrations, has already traveled to 40 countries, underscoring the project’s global reach. For Girst, however, the enduring value of the initiative lies less in scale than in its spirit of collaboration. Art, design and technology, he said, offer a way to connect across disciplines and borders.
“That’s what makes us human. We can do better things than just bash our heads in — we can create great things together,” he said.
