Paracetamol warning as study links common painkiller to brain changes in children
The painkiller is commonly prescribed to expecting mothers
A new study has shown that taking paracetamol when pregnant could affect the brains of children.
The study, published in Nature Mental Health in February, found that foetal exposure to a drug called acetaminophen, an ingredient found in paracetamol, increases the likelihood that a child will develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Previous studies have shown that over 70 per cent of pregnant women use acetaminophen during pregnancy to control pain or reduce fever.
The drug, which is the active ingredient of many pain-relief medications, such as paracetamol, is one of the few considered safe to take during pregnancy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In the UK, paracetamol is widely considered safe to use while pregnant, and the NHS website states: “Paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you’re pregnant. It’s commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby.”
However, the findings of this new study by the University of Washington School of Medicine suggest that doctors should reconsider prescribing medications with acetaminophen to mothers during pregnancy.
Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a UW Medicine pediatrician and senior author on the study, said: “This medication was approved decades ago, and may need reevaluation by the FDA.
“Acetaminophen was never evaluated for foetal exposures in relations to long-term neurodevelopmental impacts.”
Brennan Baker, a researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute was lead author on the study.
Baker explained that a large proportion of pregnant people report using acetaminophen, with 41-70 per cent of pregnant individuals in the United States, Europe and Asia reporting use of the drug.
Despite the ingredient’s classification as low risk by the FDA, the researchers shared that there was accumulating evidence suggesting a potential link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and the development of conditions such as ADHD and ADHD autism spectrum disorder.
The study included 307 pregnant women from 2006 to 2011, who agreed to give blood samples, in which scientists tracked plasma biomarkers for acetaminophen in their blood.
The children born to these mothers were then followed for eight to 10 years. Among the women who did not use acetaminophen during pregnancy, the rate of ADHD was nine per cent, but for the women who used acetaminophen, the ADHD rate among their children was 18 per cent.
This link was found to be stronger among daughters than sons, with the daughters of acetaminophen-exposed mothers showing a staggering 6.16 times higher likelihood of ADHD compared to those who were not exposed to the drug during pregnancy. However, this association was weaker in males, and researchers did not know why.
Interestingly, the study only included Black women, but Baker explained that the results could be generalised to women and children of any race or ethnicity.
Mothers often are advised to turn to acetaminophen, the primary agent in paracetamol, rather than ibuprofen, which is more likely to adversely affect the foetal kidney or heart, Baker said.
“[Acetaminophen] is really the only option to control fever or pain during pregnancy,” he said.
“There is obviously more work that needs to be done in this area, and we need to continually update our guidance.”
The scientist suggested that patients discuss the dosage of a drug that contains acetaminophen during prenatal visits, or talk about what pain it is intended to help manage.
He also recommended another drug class called triptans, which is safe and effective for managing migraines.