Links between the use of antidepressants Prozac and Paxil and birth defects have been found by researchers in a new study. However, the study has showed no association of other popular treatments in the class, including Celexa, Lexapro and Pfizer's Zoloft, with birth defects.

Doubts were casted by results of earlier studies over the use of antidepressants in a class of drugs known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs. This led the US Food and Drug Administration in 2005 to warn about the use of antidepressants during pregnancy.

Findings of the latest study were published on Wednesday in the British Medical Journal. The study was conducted by researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to figure out if the birth defects had a relation either with the entire class of drugs, or only select treatments.

Nearly 28,000 women were asked questions by researchers about taking Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft any time from one month before conception through the third month of pregnancy. They then saw which women gave birth to children with birth defects.

The study clearly showed that there was no link between many popular antidepressants - Celexa, Lexapro or Zoloft - with birth defects.

Birth defects only occurred 2 to 3.5 more frequently in women who took those two drugs early in pregnancy than women who did not take them. A skull problem in babies was found having an association with Prozac use. Paxil, on the other hand, was found having an association with anencephaly - a disorder that does not enable a baby to develop some parts of the brain and skull while in mother's womb.