“Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it. Combat like hell to not take it.”
That was the message from President Donald Trump when he and Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. introduced in September that ladies ought to keep away from Tylenol throughout being pregnant on account of what they described as a hyperlink to autism.
The danger had not been substantiated by sturdy scientific proof when Trump issued the warning. Now, a bunch of researchers have responded with what would be the most thorough evaluation but of the present science on the subject.
Their evaluation, printed Friday within the medical journal The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Girls’s Well being, discovered no hyperlink between acetaminophen — the energetic ingredient in Tylenol, also referred to as paracetamol — taken throughout being pregnant and autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction or mental incapacity.
The authors mentioned they undertook the analysis, partially, to clear up confusion after Trump’s statements, since an untreated fever can pose well being dangers to a mom and child.
“After this declaration, there have been lots of moms who really had been scared to take paracetamol,” mentioned Dr. Francesco D’Antonio, one of many paper’s authors and a professor of fetal medication on the College of Chieti in Italy. “The day after this declaration, really, we had a large enhance in telephone calls and emails from girls.”
The report’s essential takeaway is that acetaminophen is protected throughout being pregnant, in accordance with Dr. Asma Khalil, one other one of many paper’s authors and a advisor obstetrician and fetal medication specialist at St. George’s Hospital in London.
“It stays to be the primary line therapy that we might suggest if the pregnant girls have ache or fever,” she mentioned on a name with reporters.
In a press launch, The Lancet referred to the paper as a “gold-standard proof evaluation.”
The outline echoes language from members of the Trump administration. In the course of the September announcement, Kennedy mentioned the Nationwide Institutes of Well being would unleash “unbiased, depoliticized, gold normal scientific analysis and educational freedom” in its investigation of autism’s causes.
4 researchers who weren’t concerned within the new paper praised its rigor.
“I don’t suppose there’s a greater solution to analyze the info than this Lancet paper does,” mentioned David Mandell, a psychiatry professor on the College of Pennsylvania.
The seven-person workforce behind the brand new paper, from the U.Ok., Italy and Sweden, used three strategies to judge research printed by September.
First, they excluded research that didn’t evaluate pregnancies through which Tylenol had been used to these with out it, in addition to analysis that didn’t disclose pregnant girls’s well being histories or which drugs they had been taking. Additionally they didn’t embrace research that requested girls to self-report whether or not they had taken Tylenol and whether or not their little one had autism. As a substitute, the researchers relied solely on research that used medical information or questionnaires administered or reviewed by a well being care supplier. Out of hundreds of research, 43 made the reduce.
Subsequent, the researchers rated the research primarily based on their high quality and whether or not any elements could have biased the outcomes. They excluded poor high quality ones, similar to those who didn’t observe examine individuals for very lengthy or didn’t clearly outline the well being outcomes.
Lastly, they did a better evaluation of the 2 most sturdy research on Tylenol use and autism, which every in contrast massive teams of siblings — one which had been uncovered to Tylenol in utero and one which had not. The siblings shared genetics and had been raised in roughly the identical setting, with the identical socioeconomic and academic backgrounds, so the researchers may presume that these elements didn’t affect the examine outcomes.
All three strategies led to the identical conclusion: There was no hyperlink between Tylenol use in being pregnant and neurodevelopmental issues.
“Irrespective of which method they analyze them, they discover that acetaminophen doesn’t trigger ADHD or autism or mental incapacity,” Mandell mentioned.
When requested concerning the findings, an official from the Well being and Human Companies Division mentioned the evaluation doesn’t resolve the query of whether or not Tylenol use is linked to autism. The official alleged that the paper engineers a discovering by excluding proof and designing a examine with a bias towards exhibiting no affiliation.
“In line with HHS, many specialists have expressed concern of the usage of acetaminophen throughout being pregnant,” mentioned Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the division.
Nixon named, specifically, Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, dean of college on the Harvard T.H. Chan College of Public Well being, whose evaluation final yr, printed within the journal Environmental Well being, discovered an affiliation between autism and Tylenol use in being pregnant. The Trump administration cited the analysis as proof of Tylenol’s purported dangers. Baccarelli didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Khalil mentioned that Baccarelli’s evaluation and different small research which have discovered such associations most likely didn’t do sufficient to exclude confounding elements.
Mandell additionally mentioned Baccarelli’s evaluation didn’t comb by almost as many papers as the brand new evaluation did.
“On the very least, it suggests a sloppy search,” he mentioned.
Within the months since his preliminary statements about Tylenol, Trump has doubled down, writing on Reality Social earlier this month: “Pregnant Girls, DON’T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.”
Nonetheless, a written warning that the Meals and Drug Administration despatched to physicians— which Trump and Kennedy introduced in September — simply mentioned to “think about minimizing the usage of acetaminophen.” The warning additionally mentioned the medicine was nonetheless the most secure over-the-counter possibility for decreasing ache and fevers throughout being pregnant and described the supposed affiliation between Tylenol and autism as “an ongoing space of scientific debate.”
Autism researchers say there’s no purpose to debate the subject any longer.
“The query has been answered,” mentioned Alycia Halladay, chief science officer on the Autism Science Basis, who wasn’t concerned within the new paper. “There was by no means a relationship between acetaminophen and autism. We will cease speaking about this now and give attention to what does trigger autism as an alternative of complicated households and persevering with responsible the mom.”
Rosie O’Donnell is looking out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his baseless claims about individuals with autism. On Wednesday, April 16, the Well being and Human Companies Secretary held a press convention discussing a CDC examine that discovered 1 in 31 kids within the nation had been recognized with autism by age 8 in 2022. He then went on to assert that autism “destroys households” earlier than falsely declaring that folks on the spectrum can not do sure issues like “play baseball.”
