Childhood ADHD Linked to a Common Over-the-Counter Medicine Often Taken While Pregnant, Study Says
Researchers found that mothers who took the medicine were more than three times more likely to have a child with ADHD
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Stock image of a pregnant woman cradling her stomach.Childhood ADHD has been linked to prenatal exposure to acetaminophen, which is considered safe to take during pregnancy under current guidelines, according to a study.
Per research published in Nature Mental Health, mothers whose blood had acetaminophen plasma biomarkers in their second trimester were 3.15 times more likely to have a child with ADHD, a.k.a. attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which is marked by symptoms such as a short attention span, risk-taking and trouble staying on-task, according to John Hopkins Medicine.
Researchers took blood samples from 307 mothers between 2006 and 2011 and followed their children for up to 10 years. They later determined that 18% of the children of the mothers who did take acetaminophen had ADHD, while 9% of the children of the mothers who did not use the medicine had the disorder.
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Stock image of acetaminophen pills.ADHD, which is more commonly diagnosed in boys, was six times more likely to be found in girls whose mothers took acetaminophen while pregnant, the study said.
Among boys, there was a "positive but nonsignificant association" between ADHD and prenatal exposure, the findings continued.
Acetaminophen is categorized as a “Pregnancy Category B” substance — meaning it “is considered safe for use during pregnancy,” according to a report in The National Library of Medicine.
It's the "most widely used medication during pregnancy," with an estimated 62% of mothers taking it, the organization added.
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Stock image of a pregnant mother.Related: Busy Philipps Says Her ADHD Created 'Internal Chaos that I Was Managing Constantly’
“This medication was also approved decades ago, and may need reevaluation by the FDA,” Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a pediatrician at the University of Washington and the researcher's senior author, said in a statement.
“Acetaminophen was never evaluated for fetal exposures in relation to long-term neurodevelopmental impacts," she added.
But, as lead author Brennan Baker, a researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, pointed out, acetaminophen ”is really the only option to control fever or pain during pregnancy."
“There is obviously more work that needs to be done in this area,” he continued. “And we need to continually update our guidance.”
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