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possible cause of autism?

Iain

I read with interest a new article on the connection with some painkillers used by pregnant women and having neurodiverse children:

https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/news/prenatal-painkiller-use-associated-with-autism-adhd-in-children-403513

The study links prenatal paracetamol (or Tylenol for US readers) use to increased autism and ADHD risk.

It does emphasise that this is a very early stage connection and may only be contributory so it is wise not to jump to conclusions.

The actual study is here for those of you with an analytical interest:
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0

The methodology seems sound and it is designed for peer review which would indicate it is a solid piece of research.

An interesting thought experiment arising from this could be:

If you knew taking this painkiller could increase the risk of your child being neurodiverse, would you still take it (assuming no other health risks were present to mother or child)?

Parents

  • The methodology does not seem sound to me. It is a statistical analysis of other studies and is suggesting a correlation, not a causality relation.  

    I try to explain with simpler words. 

    Paracetamol is currently the first treatment for every health issue in UK. I bet that almost every woman took Paracetamol during pregnancy. Even if this study is confirmed, you could not say if Paracetamol was the cause of autism (quite unlikely) or mothers had other health conditions (NHS states "Paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you're pregnant. It's commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby." -https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/paracetamol-for-adults/pregnancy-breastfeeding-and-fertility-while-taking-paracetamol-for-adults/ ). 

    So, the study is saying that statistically mothers of autistic babies experienced pain (for the most different reasons). It is almost the same of saying that the patient died because their heart stop beating. 

    Maybe, if NHS would stop recommending to use Paracetamol for everything, and they would start investigating the issues instead of covering the symptoms, we may have more detailed correlations that could help serious researches. 

  • in reply to Cris

    People like meta-analyses because they don't have to do any actual research.

    But clearly, something that just studies other studies is dependent on the reliability of their methodologies and inherits any underlying bias.

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