Paracetamol During Pregnancy: 25-year study finds no link to birth defects

Pregnant women can breathe a sigh of relief.

A new study published in Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) offers strong evidence that taking acetaminophen, commonly known as paracetamol, during pregnancy does not increase the risk of autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ADHD, or intellectual disability in children.

This finding contradicts previous research suggesting a potential link.

The concern about paracetamol stemmed from earlier studies. However, the new research, spanning over 25 years and analysing data from more than 2 million Swedish children, suggests a different culprit might be at play.

Researchers initially found a very slight increase in neurodevelopmental disorders in children whose mothers used acetaminophen while pregnant. They returned to the same database and compared sibling pairs where the mother used acetaminophen during one pregnancy but not the other.

This approach, which helped control for various factors, including genetics, socioeconomic status, and overall health of the mother, showed there was no increased risk of neurodevelopmental problems associated with paracetamol use during pregnancy.

The researchers in this study, as well as in earlier ones, had little information on whether the parents’ themselves had autism, ADHD or an intellectual disability.

“The bottom line from this study is that pregnant women do not need to worry about autism if they use acetaminophen during their pregnancy,” said the study’s co-senior author Brian Lee, an associate professor at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health and a fellow at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.

Still, Lee said, “women should always consult with their physician before initiating medication use.”

Research outcome:

• • • Of the 185,909 children whose mothers took paracetamol during pregnancy, approximately 9% were diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or an intellectual disability.
    • Among the estimated 2.3 million children whose mothers did not use acetaminophen while pregnant, about 7.5% were diagnosed with one of the mentioned conditions.
    • After adjusting for factors such as mother’s age, smoking status, and maternal diagnoses of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability, the researchers found the following increased risks among children exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy: 5% increased risk of autism; 7% increased risk of ADHD, and 5% increased risk of intellectual disability.

Prevalence:

An analysis found that ADHD affects approximately 7.47 percent of children and adolescents in Africa, including Nigeria.

On a global scale, autism affects about 1 in 160 children. While data on autism in Nigeria and Africa remains limited, a 2014 study observed 54 cases of autism among 2,320 children in Nigeria. The two conditions are more prevalent in boys than girls.