by Prospective mothers may want to think twice the next time they are in the pharmacy.
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a common behavioral disorder that influences around 7 million American children, including around one million children who have been diagnosed since 2016.
The reason for the recent rise in diagnoses is being debated – a new study in the journal Nature Mental Health suggests that the perpetrator could be in your medicine cabinet.
Researchers analyzed blood samples of 307 pregnant women between 2006 and 2011 and discovered that children born of Acetaminophen had a prevalence of 18% of ADHD during pregnancy compared to 9% in children whose mothers did not take the popular freely available pain relder.
In particular, the chance of an ADHD diagnosis was more than three times greater in children whose mother’s detectable acetaminophen levels had in their blood.
Even more remarkable is that daughters were six times more likely to develop ADHD if the mother used Acetaminophen during pregnancy, while the effect was less pronounced in sons.
Acetaminophen treats fever, headache, muscle pain and menstrual cramps.
It is the primary active ingredient in Tylenol, which is often prescribed to expectant mothers to relieve discomfort.
An estimated 40% to 60% of pregnant women take Tylenol at a certain point in their pregnancy.
Although the drug is generally considered safe to use during pregnancy, head study author Brennan Baker, a researcher at the Seattle Children research institute, noticed that earlier research was dependent on self-reported data, which may not accurately reflect the use of acetaminophen.
“This medicine was also approved dozens of years ago and possibly needs re-evaluation by the FDA,” said Co-author Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a pediatrician at SCRI. “Acetaminophen has never been evaluated on fetal exposures in relation to long -term neurological effects.”
Earlier research into the potential link between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and ADHD has yielded mixed results. For example, a large Swedish study found no correlation, while Norwegian research identified a connection.
In 2015, the American Food and Drug Administration said that studies into the safety of using Tylenol during pregnancy “were too limited to make recommendations”.
But the agency ordered to ask pregnant women advice from their doctor before they used Tylenol.
“Because of this uncertainty, the use of pain medicines must be carefully considered during pregnancy,” said the FDA statement. “We urge pregnant women to always discuss all medicines with their care providers before they use them.”
