A recent article on The Kid's Doctor website, written by Dr. Sue Hubbard, links the use of acetaminophen (Tylenol) with the rise in asthma in recent years. It's not the first study to point out this connection, which shows that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy increased the risk of children developing asthma and wheezing. Here is the entire article:Acetaminophen Could Up Asthma, Wheezing Risk
A new analysis of 19 studies provides additional evidence of increased asthma risk in children and adults given acetaminophen. AcetaminophenThe study’s lead says that while this type of study isn’t the best way to prove that the medication actually causes the illness, it does show that the relationship should be investigated further.
“We know acetaminophen affects inflammatory cells in the airway,” said Dr. J. Mark FitzGerald of the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute in British Columbia. But even if the medication does boost asthma risk, he added, it’s likely only one factor in the rise in asthma prevalence seen in recent years.
The results of the study appear in the journal CHEST. The study is a follow-up on a 2008 study of about 200,000 patients that suggested an increased risk or asthma and wheezing in those who took acetaminophen.
To investigate further, Dr. FitzGerald and his team searched the medical literature for studies that looked at acetaminophen and risk of asthma and wheezing. When the researchers did a combined analysis of the 19 studies they identified, which included 425,140 patients in all, they found acetaminophen use was associated with a 1.6-fold increased risk of asthma. Children exposed to the drug in the womb were at 1.3-fold greater risk of asthma and 1.5-fold increased risk of wheezing.
The one study that looked at high-dose acetaminophen in children found it more than tripled asthma risk.
At this point, FitzGerald said, parents shouldn’t purge their medicine chests of acetaminophen.
When a pediatrician recommends acetaminophen to treat fever in a child, according to the researcher, parents should follow this advice. The drug “works very well to do what it is supposed to do,” he noted, adding “there’s always a risk benefit in terms of medication.”
