It hasn’t been a great year for Tylenol, or acetaminophen. A story on the public radio program “This American Life” in September highlighted the dangers, including death, of taking even a slightly higher dose of the drug than directed. A series of lawsuits alleged that Tylenol’s maker, Johnson & Johnson, did not adequately warn people of the risks of liver damage associated with its use. New bottles of Extra Strength Tylenol now feature bright red warning labels on the cap.
Amid all this, two new studies emerged in the last six months citing acetaminophen’s risks for pregnant women and long-term consequences for their children. One study, in the International Journal of Epidemiology, said children born to mothers who took acetaminophen during pregnancy were more likely to have behavior problems and slow motor development at age 3. The other study, in JAMA Pediatrics, cited an increased risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, at age 7. And the effects seemed large: a 40 percent increase in hospital diagnosis of behavior problems, for example.
To say these effects were surprising is an understatement. For years, women were told that the only safe pain reliever during pregnancy was Tylenol. A 2010 review article in Reproductive Toxicology summarized studies covering hundreds of thousands of women and concluded there was no increased risk of birth defects from single-ingredient acetaminophen. Based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rating system for drugs in pregnancy, Tylenol is safer than ibuprofen, and much safer than aspirin. And the women in these two new studies were not overdosing on Tylenol. They were just taking it as directed.
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