Recent studies have demonstrated no causal association between prenatal exposure to SSRIs and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some clinical studies have shown an association between the use of SSRIs in pregnant women and ASD in the offspring. However, a limitation of these studies was that they could not distinguish between the effects of drug exposure and the consequences of the underlying maternal psychiatric illness (parental psychiatric disorder in itself is associated with an increased risk of ASD in the baby) (13).