Is paracetamol safe during pregnancy and does it have links to autism?

"Genetics plays a major role in autism, but scientists are also investigating the potential role of environmental factors such as parental age, premature birth and prenatal exposure to drugs, environmental chemicals or infections. The idea that something that occurs during pregnancy may influence neurodevelopment isn't a particularly new or crazy or outlandish idea, said Renee Gardner, an associate professor of epidemiology at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. We know there's a large heritable or familial influence, but environment interacts with genetic tendencies."

"Paracetamol has been widely used for pain relief since the 1950s and is recommended by the NHS as the first choice of painkiller if you're pregnant. In recent years, a number of studies have suggested that women who take paracetamol during pregnancy are very slightly more likely to have a child who is diagnosed with autism. But this does not prove that the link is causal."

"A big challenge in human studies is working out what genuinely contributes to autism and what is simply associated with the condition. Lots of potential risk factors for autism have been investigated and when you are doing this kind of research, it can be very difficult to disentangle what is truly a cause, said Prof Laurie Tomlinson, professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. People taking paracetamol or not taking paracetamol in pregnancy may be different in many ways."

Genetics plays a major role in autism, with strong heritable or familial influences. Environmental factors such as parental age, premature birth, prenatal infections, chemicals, and drugs are being investigated for interacting with genetic tendencies. Paracetamol has been widely used since the 1950s and remains NHS-recommended for pregnancy pain relief. Some studies report a very slight increase in autism diagnoses among children whose mothers used paracetamol in pregnancy, but causality is unproven. Regulatory bodies like the MHRA state there is no evidence that paracetamol causes autism. Human studies face confounding and difficulty separating genuine causes from associations, since pregnant people who use paracetamol may differ in many ways.

Read at www.theguardian.com