Is there a link between paracetamol during pregnancy and autism and ADHD in bubs?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-03-10 02:00

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A cursory glance at the data on links between taking paracetamol during pregnancy and children developing ADHD or autism could suggest there is a link, according to US and Taiwanese researchers, but on closer inspection, that link either disappears or becomes inconclusive. The team looked at data on two million Taiwanese births. Just looking at the data as a whole, it looked like there might be a link to kids developing these conditions. However, when the researchers looked at siblings from the same family, where one child was exposed to paracetamol in the womb, and the other wasn't, the link disappeared. Their additional analyses using the sibling data even showed conflicting results - some showed an increased risk, and others showed a decreased risk. The team says this means the sibling comparison method probably still contains biases that they were unable to account for. Because of this, they say, their results remain inconclusive at best.

News release

From: JAMA

Maternal Acetaminophen Use and Child Neurodevelopment

About The Study: The findings of this cohort study in Taiwan suggest that positive associations were observed between maternal prenatal acetaminophen prescriptions and offspring’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the full cohort but not in the sibling-matched analyses. A substantial divergence in associations in the sibling bidirectional analyses indicates unaddressed sources of bias and prevents firm conclusions from being drawn using the sibling design.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Funder: The Taiwanese cohort was established with funding from the Taiwan National Science and Technology Council (NSTC grants 112-2314-B-006-068-MY3 and 113-2629-H-006-002-SS2) and the National Health Research Institutes (grant NHRI-EX114-11410PI). Drs Liew and Arah have received funding from the National Institutes of Health/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant R01HD109213).

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