Posted on 09/26/2025 5:26:42 AM PDT by Red Badger
A new study suggests that fetal exposure to acetaminophen significantly increases the risk of ADHD in children, raising concerns about its safety during pregnancy.
While acetaminophen has long been considered a low-risk pain reliever for pregnant women, this research—tracking a cohort of over 300 mothers—found that children exposed to the drug had nearly double the likelihood of developing ADHD. The effect was even more pronounced in girls, though researchers are unsure why.
Acetaminophen in Pregnancy: A Hidden Risk?
A new study published in Nature Mental Health suggests that fetal exposure to acetaminophen may increase the risk of ADHD in children.
Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in many pain relievers such as Tylenol and NyQuil, is commonly used during pregnancy. Research shows that up to 70% of pregnant women take it to relieve pain or reduce fever. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long considered it one of the few safe medications for pregnancy.
Should Doctors Reconsider Acetaminophen?
However, the study’s findings suggest that doctors may need to reconsider its use during pregnancy.
“Most of the prior studies asked women to self-report whether they had taken Tylenol or anything that contained acetaminophen,” said lead author Brennan Baker, a researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Baker also works in the lab of Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a UW Medicine pediatrician.
A Drug That Needs Reevaluation?
“This medication was also approved decades ago, and may need reevaluation by the FDA,” said Sathyanarayana, the paper’s senior author. “Acetaminophen was never evaluated for fetal exposures in relation to long-term neurodevelopmental impacts.”
Acetaminophen is widely used during pregnancy, with 41-70% of pregnant individuals in the United States, Europe, and Asia reporting use. Despite acetaminophen’s classification as low risk by regulatory agencies such as the FDA, accumulating evidence suggests a potential link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, including ADHD and ADHD autism spectrum disorder, the researchers noted.
Tracking Acetaminophen’s Impact Over a Decade
This research tracked a cohort of 307 women from 2006 to 2011, who agreed to give blood samples during their pregnancy. The researchers tracked plasma biomarkers for acetaminophen in the samples.
The children born to these mothers were followed for 8 to 10 years. Among the women who did not use acetaminophen during pregnancy, the rate of ADHD was 9%, but for the women who used acetaminophen, the ADHD rate among their offspring was 18%.
Acetaminophen metabolites were detected in 20.2% of maternal plasma samples. Children whose mothers had these biomarkers present in their plasma had a 3.15 times higher likelihood of an ADHD diagnosis compared with those without detected exposure.
Stronger Effects in Girls Than Boys
The association was stronger among daughters than sons, with the daughters of acetaminophen-exposed mothers showing a 6.16 times higher likelihood of ADHD while the association was weaker and nonsignificant in males. Researchers did not know why the association was stronger in females.
The investigators’ analysis used data from the Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood (CANDLE) research cohort, which comprised 1,031 pregnant individuals in Memphis, Tenn., who were enrolled between 2006 and 2011.
By happenstance, and not by design, the study cohort included only Black women, Baker said, adding that the results could be generalized to women and children of any race or ethnicity.
A Commonly Recommended Drug
Mothers often are advised to turn to acetaminophen, the primary agent in Tylenol, rather than ibuprofen, which is more likely to adversely affect the fetal kidney or heart, Baker said.
“(Acetaminophen) is really the only option to control fever or pain during pregnancy,” he said.
So, what is a mother to do?
“There is obviously more work that needs to be done in this area,” he said. “And we need to continually update our guidance.”
Is There an Alternative? For example, he suggested, during prenatal visits, patients should discuss the dosage of a drug that contains acetaminophen or talk about what pain it is intended to help manage, he said. Another drug class, such as triptans, is safe and effective for managing migraines, he added.
More work needs to be done to find out if some people can tolerate acetaminophen during pregnancy with no ill effects on the fetus while others cannot, he said.
He added that research findings on the effects of the drug and its potential risks during pregnancy have not been consistent.
Conflicting Studies Call for More Research
One study recently released in Sweden, showed no link between maternal acetaminophen use and ADHD in their children; while another study out of Norway, did in fact find a link. The study out of Sweden, however, relied on self-reported data, Baker noted.
“The study out of Sweden, however, reported that only 7% of pregnant individuals used acetaminophen,” Baker noted. “And that study could have underestimated the exposure.
“I think it goes back to how the data was collected,” he added. “The conflicting results mean that more research is needed.”
A Call for Updated Guidelines
Medical societies and the FDA should update guidance on the use of acetaminophen as safety data emerges, Sathyanarayana said.
Reference:
“Associations of maternal blood biomarkers of prenatal APAP exposure with placental gene expression and child attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”
by Brennan H. Baker, Theo K. Bammler, Emily S. Barrett, Nicole R. Bush, Brent R. Collett, Karen J. Derefinko, Daniel A. Enquobahrie, Catherine J. Karr, Kaja Z. LeWinn, Jiawang Liu, Christine T. Loftus, James W. MacDonald, Shanna H. Swan, Qi Zhao, Alison G. Paquette and Sheela Sathyanarayana, 6 February 2025, Nature Mental Health.
DOI: 10.1038/s44220-025-00387-6
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00387-6
I’m wondering if the cause of autism is not Tylenol, but it is the absence of Folate.
Safe and effective. It works for international drug cartels with plausible deniability.
That’s the 64 Billion dollar question.
We never had any autistic children in schools in the 50’s or 60’s. Even into the early 70’s it wasn’t a ‘thing’.
Now, every family has one.......................
As you are referencing, folate is essentially for normal development and neurogenesis. That said, they routinely prescribe prenatal vitamins with folate, and this spike in autism seems to have occurred after the emphasis on getting enough folate during pregnancy. I’m not saying it can’t be playing a role, but I wonder why now?
Tylenol themselves said it wasn’t safe for pregnant women. F’n Doctors. Can’t trust em
People don’t eat as well, nor do they get as much exercise as they used to.
Supplements are not the same as nutrition from real food itself.
Also, stress levels in people’s lives are through the roof. It’s been known for a long time that a high stress pregnancy = a stressed out baby.
If it is from lack of folate, then autism would have been worse in years past with poorer diets.
I do know acetaminophen does a bad number on me so won’t have it in the house and have to tell doctors when I have to have procedures despite their eye rolls. Glad to see it being studied.
All that said, Tylenol is some dangerous stuff and I wonder how it was ever allowed on the market with the knowledge of the risk it poses just to the liver.
And who knows what else the pharm industry hid from us about the true side effects they found in it in their studies?
Correlation or causation?
Is it the acetaminophen, or the conditions that the mother is taking the acetaminophen for?
I’ve come to realize that most doctors are just drug pimps. They have a vested interest in convincing patients to take questionable remedies to line their pocketbooks.
I saw a spine doctor years ago for a damaged disc. He wanted to permanently put me on naproxen as a daily supplement, with all of the deleterious effects that has.
Doctors in Europe told pregnant women that Thalidomide would be safe to use for morning sickness. How did that work out?
Relax Francis it's just a joke 🙄😂
Here's a theory that makes more sense:
(1) Women who avoid Tylenol while pregnant
They tend to be more cautious about medicine in general. They wouldn't want their children medicated, either, and they might question an ADHD diagnosis.
(2) Women who take Tylenol while pregnant
They tend to be more trusting of medicine in general, and they might be more open to medication for their children and an ADHD diagnosis.
(I'm in Group #1.)
With that said, someone should look into the liquid Tylenol given to infants. There was a problem with at least one batch we all were giving to our kids at one time.
Someone else posted this theory online: A vaccination shot causes fever, and the kids are given Tylenol for the fever...
also autism predates the discovery/invention of tylenol, if i remember correctly.
When I was pregnant, it was my instinct to take no medicine. I’m wondering why so many pregnant women need Tylenol?
This is a perfect example of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Scientific studies were released and since Kennedy and Trump mentioned it, they immediately defended Tylenol and attacked them.
Leftist pregnant women are even taking large doses of it to “prove” it is safe just to stick it to Trump (in their minds).
They say to “trust the science” and then they don’t follow their own advice.
Same here. I’m surprised to find out that so many pregnant women take Tylenol. At the same time, I think ADHD and autism are over-diagnosed today.
That’s true... Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, if I understand correctly, the definition of autism was broadened to include more and more people. It’s over-diagnosed now.
Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger was an Austrian physician. Noted for his early studies on atypical neurology, specifically in children, he is the namesake of the former autism spectrum disorder, Asperger syndrome. He wrote more than 300 publications on psychological disorders that posthumously acquired international renown in the 1980s. His diagnosis of autism, which he termed “autistic psychopathy”, garnered controversy.
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