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Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used headache and pain relievers in the world. It's sold alone under brand names such as Tylenol and Paracetamol, or in combination with other ingredients as Exedrin, Dristan and many others.
Acetaminophen is officially authorized for use during pregnancy. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 65 percent of American women use the medication at some point in their pregnancy.
However, several new studies raise red flags for pregnant women and their children.
A new study from Mt. Sinai Health System, in New York City concludes that pregnant women should limit their use of acetaminophen in any of its forms. The study found that expectant mothers' use of acetaminophen in early pregnancy (8-13 weeks) was associated with delayed language development in their daughters when tested at the age of 30 months.
Delayed language development is important in its own right, and because it tends to predict a range of neurodevelopmental problems in children.
""Given the prevalence of prenatal acetaminophen use and the importance of language development, our findings, if replicated, suggest that pregnant women should limit their use of this analgesic during pregnancy," said Shanna Swan, PhD, Professor of Environmental and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the study's senior author.
An international team of researchers followed 754 women who were part of the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and Child, Asthma and Allergy study. Both the number of acetaminophen tablets taken early in pregnancy and measured concentration of the drug in the mothers' urine were strongly correlated with girl's later language development.
The effect was striking--girls whose mothers took acetaminophen more than six times in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy were six times more likely to show delayed development of language than girls whose mothers had not taken any of the drug, and the daughters of the 25 percent of mothers with the highest urine levels of the drug were 10 times more likely than those in the lowest 25 percent.
This is the first study to show this effect. As professor Swan points out, further research is needed to corroborate or modify the findings. Still, given the importance of language development in childhood, women who are or may be pregnant should certainly take notice.
In addition, three separate studies, just released, found that a mother's exposure to acetaminophen during pregnancy may reduce the number of eggs tucked away in their daughters' ovaries, and so reduce their eventual fertility. Although these studies were in mice rather than humans, researchers view it as significant for humans as well. "Although this may not be a severe impairment to fertility," says Dr. David Kristensen, at Copenhagen University Hospital, in Denmark, "it is still of real concern since data from three different labs all independently found that paracetamol may disrupt female reproductive development in this way, which indicates further investigation is needed to establish how this affects human fertility."
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The Swedish/Mt. Sinai study appears in the journal European Psychiatry, 10 January, 2018
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However, several new studies raise red flags for pregnant women and their children.
A new study from Mt. Sinai Health System, in New York City concludes that pregnant women should limit their use of acetaminophen in any of its forms. The study found that expectant mothers' use of acetaminophen in early pregnancy (8-13 weeks) was associated with delayed language development in their daughters when tested at the age of 30 months.
Delayed language development is important in its own right, and because it tends to predict a range of neurodevelopmental problems in children.
""Given the prevalence of prenatal acetaminophen use and the importance of language development, our findings, if replicated, suggest that pregnant women should limit their use of this analgesic during pregnancy," said Shanna Swan, PhD, Professor of Environmental and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the study's senior author.
Acetaminophen is found in many over-the-counter medications
An international team of researchers followed 754 women who were part of the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and Child, Asthma and Allergy study. Both the number of acetaminophen tablets taken early in pregnancy and measured concentration of the drug in the mothers' urine were strongly correlated with girl's later language development.
The effect was striking--girls whose mothers took acetaminophen more than six times in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy were six times more likely to show delayed development of language than girls whose mothers had not taken any of the drug, and the daughters of the 25 percent of mothers with the highest urine levels of the drug were 10 times more likely than those in the lowest 25 percent.
This is the first study to show this effect. As professor Swan points out, further research is needed to corroborate or modify the findings. Still, given the importance of language development in childhood, women who are or may be pregnant should certainly take notice.
In addition, three separate studies, just released, found that a mother's exposure to acetaminophen during pregnancy may reduce the number of eggs tucked away in their daughters' ovaries, and so reduce their eventual fertility. Although these studies were in mice rather than humans, researchers view it as significant for humans as well. "Although this may not be a severe impairment to fertility," says Dr. David Kristensen, at Copenhagen University Hospital, in Denmark, "it is still of real concern since data from three different labs all independently found that paracetamol may disrupt female reproductive development in this way, which indicates further investigation is needed to establish how this affects human fertility."
-----
The Swedish/Mt. Sinai study appears in the journal European Psychiatry, 10 January, 2018
-----
If you enjoyed this post, please sign up to receive email alerts or to follow zerospinzone.blogspot.com.
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