Study Examines Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy, Child Behavioral Issues
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has been a go-to medicine for pregnant women with aches and pains and fever.
"We don't like people to take a lot of aspirin. We don't like people to take a lot of Motrin-like drugs," says Dr. Paul Weinbaum, an OBGYN at West Penn Hospital. "Half the pregnant population takes Tylenol. The data's always supported the use of Tylenol."
Now a British study shows a pattern of behavioral issues in the children of mothers who took this drug during pregnancy.
"It's very surprising," says Dr. Weinbaum skeptically.
Researchers followed nearly 8,000 mothers for 25 years. Acetaminophen use at 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, and when their children were 5 years old and any behavioral difficulties in their children at age 7 were tracked by questionnaire.
In this study, acetaminophen use during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of conduct problems, hyperactivity, and emotional symptoms in children. Five percent of children born to moms who used acetaminophen had behavior problems.
That's actually lower than in the general population, which National Institutes of Health data put at two to 13 percent.
Dr. Weinbaum is thinking outside the Tylenol box.
"People take Tylenol generally when they have something wrong. For example, high fever. And we know that high fever sustained for even a few days particularly early in pregnancy can cause problems," he points out.
The dose and duration of acetaminophen use was not determined, among other important pieces of information.
"For what reason did they take it? What other medicines did they take with it? And those are just some of the things that can affect the results," he says.
While the authors bring up the possibility of acetaminpohen disrupting hormones or stressing brain cells, this type of study cannot establish cause and effect. So Dr. Weinbaum is not changing his recommendations -- "Lowest dose, shortest amount of time."
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