Taking paracetamol during pregnancy is safe, a group of European researchers said, after compiling data in response to US President Donald Trump’s claims last year of a link to autism.
In a review published in the British journal The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health on Saturday (local time), the team said they focused on gathering the best quality evidence to address the claims.
“Paracetamol is safe to use in pregnancy,” said lead author Asma Khalil, professor of obstetrics and maternal-fetal medicine at City St George’s, University of London.
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“The key message is reassurance: When used as recommended, the best available evidence does not support a causal link with autism, ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), or intellectual disability.”
Acetaminophen is not linked to autism or ADHD
Khalil said she was asked about the popular painkiller — also known as acetaminophen — by her patients after Trump in September told pregnant women not to take the medication. At the time, national and international medical groups criticized the president’s comments, saying they were not evidence-based.
Paracetamol is the only painkiller considered safe for pregnant women, and doctors now advise women to use the smallest amount for the shortest possible time to control pain and fever during pregnancy. If left untreated, these conditions can be risky for both pregnant women and their babies.
The researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing data, finding 43 studies that were assessed for quality and bias using a standard tool.
The team focused especially on studies that looked at children born to the same mother who took acetaminophen during one pregnancy but not the other. These studies take into account shared genetic factors and family environments that may be linked to autism or other conditions studied, Khalil said.
There were only three such studies, but they were large, covering more than 260,000 children assessed for autism, and about 335,000 and 405,000 for ADHD and intellectual disabilities, respectively.
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Taking bias into account
The studies showed no significant link between the use of the medication and any of the conditions studied. This was the case when the results of all the high-quality studies that were evaluated were pooled, the authors said.
Khalil said much of the work showing a possible link, including a review of 46 studies cited by Trump officials, was prone to bias or confounding factors that his team’s review tried to take into account.
Grainne McAlonan, professor of Translational Neuroscience at King’s College London, who was not involved in the research, praised the study, adding: “I hope the findings of this study bring closure.”
