A new English study points to behavioral problems in young children whose mothers took paracetamol during pregnancy.
Frequently recommended to future mothers to relieve pain during pregnancy because it does not involve any risk of fetal malformation, paracetamol is not a drug to be taken lightly.
This is highlighted by a new study conducted by the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom, and published this Monday, September 16 in the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. According to its authors, taking paracetamol during pregnancy is linked to behavioral disorders in children, in particular hyperactivity and attention deficit.
Disorders that affect boys more
To reach this conclusion, the researchers followed 14,000 children aged 6 months to 11 years whose parents answered a school questionnaire and who participated in the Bristol’s Children of the 90’s study.
Among the data collected, one particularly caught their attention: when they were 7 months pregnant, 43% of the mothers of these children declared that they had “sometimes” or more often taken paracetamol during the previous three months.
The researchers cross-referenced this data with the results of memory, intelligence quotient (IQ) and preschool development tests, as well as measures of the children’s temperament and behavior.
Boys more affected than girls
They then found that there was a link between taking paracetamol during pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as other behavioral problems in young children. However, these disorders seem to disappear when children reach the end of primary school. According to the results, boys also seem to be more affected than girls by these behavioral problems.
“Our findings add to a series of findings regarding the evidence for possible adverse effects of taking paracetamol during pregnancy, such as asthma or behavioral problems in offspring. It reinforces the advice that women should be be careful when taking medication during pregnancy and consult a doctor if necessary,” explains Prof. Jean Golding Obe, lead author of the work and founder of the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol.
“It is important that our findings are tested in other studies – we were not able to demonstrate a causal link, but rather an association between two results”, concedes the researcher. “It would also be useful now to assess whether older children and adults do not show difficult behavior problems if their mother had taken paracetamol.”
Autism and declining fertility
This is not the first study pointing out the risks associated with taking paracetamol during pregnancy. In the spring of 2018, a study published in theAmerican Journal of Epidemiology showed that prolonged paracetamol use during pregnancy increased the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by 30% and that of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by 20% compared to women n not taking this painkiller when they were pregnant.
Another, carried out at the same time by the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, revealed that taking common painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen during pregnancy could affect the reproductive health of the fetus.
On the other hand, a recent and large Swedish study indicated that taking paracetamol during pregnancy was not responsible for the increased risk of asthma in children.