A quarterly publication of the Autism Research Institute
Spring, 2024 | Number 2, Volume 38
While previous research has suggested an association between maternal use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a new large-scale study from Sweden and the United States did not identify a link between the two.
When the researchers studied sibling pairs in which one sibling was exposed prenatally to acetaminophen and the other was not, they found no increased likelihood of ASD, ADHD, or intellectual disability in exposed children.
Viktor Ahlqvist and colleagues analyzed data from a nationwide cohort of more than 2.4 million children born in Sweden, following each child up to 26 years after birth. Initially, they detected a small increase in the likelihood of children being diagnosed with ASD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD), or intellectual disability if their mothers had taken acetaminophen during pregnancy. However, when the researchers studied sibling pairs in which one sibling was exposed prenatally to acetaminophen and the other was not, they found no increased likelihood of the conditions in exposed children.
The researchers say that studying sibling pairs, who share a substantial portion of their genes as well as environmental factors, makes it easier to control for genetic and environmental variables. The difference between their findings and earlier research, the researchers say, “suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to familial confounding.”
“Acetaminophen use during pregnancy and children’s risk of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability,” Viktor Ahlqvist, Hugo Sjöqvist, Christina Dalman, Håkan Karlsson, Olof Stephansson, Stefan Johansson, Cecilia Magnusson, Renee M. Gardner, and Brian K. Lee, Journal of the American Medical Association, April 9, 2024 (online). Address: Viktor H. Ahlqvist, Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected].
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“No link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and cognitive risks, says large sibling study,” news release, Drexel University, April 9, 2024.
