Background: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are a very common choice of antidepressive drug-therapy during pregnancy. In up to 30% of cases, they have been found to cause neonatal abstinence syndrome in newborn infants. Although often both time-limiting and self-limiting, severe symptoms of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) can occur. Methods/Results: We report a term male infant suffering from a severe brief resolved unexplained event caused by his mother's sertraline intake during pregnancy. Conclusions: Newborn infants exposed to selective serotonine reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy should be evaluated very carefully concerning NAS and monitored for NAS symptoms for a minimum of 72⁻96 h, or until symptoms have fully recovered using standardized protocols. There is a risk of severe NAS symptoms which might occur, and this circumstance should be discussed with the parents and taken into account before administering the drug.
Keywords: apparent life-threatening events; brief resolved unexplained events; neonatal abstinence syndrome; selective serotonine reuptake inhibitor.