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The global scientific community has hotly debated the validity of the claims since September, when US President Donald Trump linked paracetamol to autism in children and told pregnant women to “fight like hell” to avoid taking the common painkiller.
A new detailed review of existing evidence published in Monday’s BMJ found no clear link between paracetamol use during pregnancy and a diagnosis of autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
Researchers from leading universities and institutions in the UK, Australia and Spain conducted this review in direct response to the recent debate over the safety of paracetamol during pregnancy. add compound interest reportscientists and global regulator An affirmation that the drug is safe.
“We wanted to revisit all the reviews in this area to understand what the evidence is so far,” said Shakira Thangarathinam, one of the study authors and professor of women’s health at the University of Liverpool.
“What is the quality behind that? And how do we actually interpret the whole evidence to help health care providers communicate this information to mothers and their families?” she told Euronews Health.
In the BMJ review, researchers analyzed nine existing systematic reviews on the topic and assessed the overall quality and scientific validity of the claims.
All nine reviews reported an association between paracetamol use during pregnancy and autism or ADHD in children. However, the BMJ researchers found that many of these studies did not adjust for important health and lifestyle factors, and that many multi-study reviews were of low quality.
Additionally, seven of the nine reviews advised caution when interpreting the results due to the potential risk of bias and the influence of confounding factors that may influence the results.
What are the researchers’ conclusions? The reliability of research results on this topic is “low to very low.” This means that the existing evidence is not scientifically strong enough to prove that paracetamol causes these symptoms.
Genetic and environmental factors associated with neural divergence
The BMJ review suggests that any relationship may be driven in part by genetic and environmental factors, or other variables such as the parents’ mental health, background, and lifestyle.
In the few studies that took these factors into account, the association between paracetamol and the risk of childhood autism and ADHD disappeared or was significantly reduced, the researchers said.
Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is a common painkiller sold under the brand name Tylenol in the United States. It is one of the only over-the-counter medications recommended for treating pain and fever in pregnant women.
Coinciding with President Trump’s press conference in September, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended changes to the labeling of paracetamol packages to note “evidence suggesting that the use of acetaminophen by pregnant women may be associated with an increased risk of neurological disorders such as autism and ADHD in children.”
The BMJ review encouraged more high-quality research on the subject, taking into account other factors that could skew the results. The researchers said this would help improve the quality of evidence about how the timing and duration of exposure to paracetamol affects fetal development.
Meanwhile, Thangarathinam said basing health policy decisions on inconclusive evidence could have serious consequences, and more research was needed, especially prioritizing women’s health.
“There are sex and gender gaps in science, and studies like this really highlight the need for priority and investment for 51 percent of the population, especially during pregnancy,” she said.