Shocking new study reveals whether Tylenol actually causes autism after Trump’s bombshell claims
Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Health
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty
Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Health
A new study has come through with a strong finding on whether there is a connection between Tylenol and autism, as President Trump recently claimed.
Donald Trump has recently brought the topic into the public focus after making a series of outlandish health claims about a link between taking the over-the-counter painkiller while pregnant and the foetus going on to develop autism.
Since Trump's claims, a study was commissioned at the University of Liverpool in the UK 'in direct response to recent announcements', investigating in depth whether there really is a link between Tylenol and autism.
Tylenol is a common commercial name for acetaminophen, or paracetamol, and the study was an in-depth evidence review of the information on the common medication.
Advert
Professor Shakila Thangaratinam from the University of Liverpool was a lead researcher on the study, and shared some of the results.
So, what did the study find?
Well, despite claims from the Trump administration, the study made a definitive finding that there is no connection between pregnant women taking Tylenol and their babies having autism.
Professor Thangaratinam said: ‘‘Through this work, we have shown that based on current evidence, there is no clear link between women taking paracetamol during pregnancy and a diagnosis of autism or ADHD in their children.
"The findings should help healthcare professionals give evidence-based advice to women, and reassure mothers about the use of paracetamol during pregnancy if indicated.”
The study itself is what is called an umbrella review, which is a high-level summary of the evidence.
It examined existing reviews on taking paracetamol while pregnant to check the validity of paracetamol and the development of ADHD or autism in children.
This included 40 observational studies on the topic and included work to assess each paper individually for any biases.
After this, the team rated their confidence in each paper from critically low, low, medium, or high.
Professor Louise Kenny is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool, and said that while it shows there is no clear link, the study also drew attention to how medical misogyny continues to lead to poorer health outcomes.
Professor Kenny said: “Current evidence does not demonstrate a clear link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism but our work also demonstrates how poor the data is around medications in pregnancy.
"This highlights the wider problem of historic and continuing under investment in women’s health research.”
The research was published in the British Medical Journal, and while it does have some limitations, researchers claimed that it does demonstrate 'the lack of robust evidence linking paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism and ADHD in offspring'.