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If you?re pregnant and in pain, there?s not much in your medicine cabinet you can safely turn to (Aspirin is out because it can cause congenital defects, ditto for ibuprofen, which can increase your risk of miscarriage). Now it seems your options may have dwindled even further. A new study in the International Journal of Epidemiology has found a link between acetaminophen and autism.
This is a problem because acetaminophen has long been considered the safest treatment of choice for expectant mothers?and some research suggests it could even help decrease the risk of some birth defects when used to treat fever in pregnant women.
In the study, Spanish researchers questioned 2,644 women about their use of paracetamol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy and, when they assessed their children at age five, found that children exposed to the drug in utero were at a 30 percent higher risk of hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour. They also found an increase in two clinical symptoms of autism in boys whose mothers regularly took the painkiller. So, does this mean moms-to-be will have to suffer in silence" Not according to David Olson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and physiology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. First of all, he says, there are some limitations to the study.
?The effects were observed in women who were less well-educated, smoked during pregnancy and had chronic illnesses or fever that was not explained,? he says. ?There ...