What we know and don, about the connection between painkillers and autism

On Monday, the US government announced two initiatives related to autism. It will update labeling on the regular painkiller paracetamol, also called acetaminophen, warning use during pregnancy can increase the risk of autism and ADHD in children. It will also approve a drug called Leucovorin for use in some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). None of there movements are bent on Rubust scientific findings and they probably have minimal effect on autism rats in the United States.

The announcement comes after the country’s highest ranked official for public health, Robert F Kennedy JR, in April promised to identify the causes of autism in late September. US President Donald Trump all initiatives as “historical steps to confront the autism crisis” during a press conference.

This framing reveals either an envy standing or a mistaken representation of what we know about autism. There are no crisis – autismatrates began to rise rapidly in the 1980s as diagnostic criteria for the expanded state were expanded. Over the past few decades, a higher level of awareness and recognition of the symptoms of autism has also contributed to a tireless in autism diagnoses.

As for the cause of the condition, there is little evidence that suggests that paracetamol is too black. It is true that several studies have suggested that paracetamol use in pregnancy can increase the risk of autism in children. A recent analysis of 46 studies found that 27 of them identified a significant correlation between paracetamol during pregnancy and children with a higher risk of neuro development conditions such as autism. But just because there is a relationship does not mean that paracetamol causes autism – other factors can play.

And there are conflicting findings from other studies. For example, a 2024 study of nearly 2.5 million children found a slightly higher risk of autism in those exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy, but after comparing children’s exhibition with painkillers with them from their UNXPOP siblings, the effect disappeared. “It was family history that matters and not the use of paracetamol,” Dimitrios Siassakos said at University College London in a press release. “Research has shown that any seemingly marginal includes [in autism] As a result of paracetamol in pregnancy, it tends to disappear when the analyzes intend to the facts that matter most, such as genetics that decades of research has indicated is a primary contributor to the condition.

During the press conference, Trump said pregnant women should not take paracetamol for pain or fever during pregnancy unless they “can’t hard it out” and they “should talk to their doctors for more information”. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledged in a press release that a causal relationship between paracetamol and autism has not been determined and said in a message to doctors, paracetamol remains the safest far as avairable painkillers for use during pregnancy. “” “[It] is the only over-cund approved for use in the treatment of bold pregnancy, and high fever in pregnant women may pose a risk to their children, ”the agency said. Fever Daring Pregnancy has been linked to pre-subsequent birth and defects in brain or spinal cord development in the fetus.

The FDA also initiated it will approve the drug leucovorin for people with cerebral folate deficiency on condition that strange absorption of vitamin B9 in the brain. Some studies indicate up to 40 per Hundreds of autistic people can also have this condition, resulting in similar symptoms, included communication and sensory treatment.

Leucovorin, a form of vitamin B9, is already avairable to treat deficiencies in this vitamin as well as side effects from certain cancer medations. Early evidence suggests that it can also improve some serious autism symptoms. For example, a 2016 study dealt with 23 autistic children with languages ​​weakening using two doses of leucovorin daily, while a separate group of 25 children regains a placebo. After 12 weeks, 65 percent of children receiving Leucovorin experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in verbal communication compared to 24 percent of them in the control group.

But so far, all studies of leucovorin and autism have been small, and most indicate only modest improvements. A major clinical trial is underway if results are expected next year. “Any evidence available at this time is unusual attempt and will not consider robust,” said Monique Botha at Durham University in Britain in a press release. “While medicine can help with very specific aspects [of autism]There is no medication or treatment that actively cures or erases autism. “

Following the advertisement, the US Ministry of Health and Human Services in a State thing that “while promising, it is important to note that Leukovorin is not a cure for ASD and perhaps only lead to improvements in speech-related deficits for a subgroup of children with ASD”.

Kennedy, with Trump’s backing, has done to tackle the “epidemic autism” into a pillar in American public health policy. They both portrayed these political changes such as Remukable progress made in a short time. But science suggests that Neith aveide paracetamol during pregnancy or to take leucovorin will have subordinate autism, as Trump and Kennedy have claimed. Instead, the most likely result of these initiatives is that they saw confusion about surrounding how and when to treat bread or fever that bold pregnancy.