After Trump warned about Tylenol and autism, researchers investigated — and located no hyperlink

“Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it. Battle like hell to not take it.”

That was the message from President Donald Trump when he and Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. introduced in September that ladies ought to keep away from Tylenol throughout being pregnant as a consequence of what they described as a hyperlink to autism.

The danger had not been substantiated by sturdy scientific proof when Trump issued the warning. Now, a bunch of researchers have responded with what could be the most thorough evaluation but of the prevailing science on the subject.

Their overview, printed Friday within the medical journal The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Ladies’s Well being, discovered no hyperlink between acetaminophen — the lively ingredient in Tylenol, often known as paracetamol — taken throughout being pregnant and autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction or mental incapacity.

The authors stated they undertook the analysis, partly, to clear up confusion after Trump’s statements, since an untreated fever can pose well being dangers to a mom and child.

“After this declaration, there have been a number of moms who truly had been scared to take paracetamol,” stated Dr. Francesco D’Antonio, one of many paper’s authors and a professor of fetal drugs on the College of Chieti in Italy. “The day after this declaration, truly, we had a large enhance in cellphone calls and emails from ladies.”

The report’s predominant takeaway is that acetaminophen is secure throughout being pregnant, in response to Dr. Asma Khalil, one other one of many paper’s authors and a guide obstetrician and fetal drugs specialist at St. George’s Hospital in London.

“It stays to be the primary line remedy that we’d suggest if the pregnant ladies have ache or fever,” she stated on a name with reporters.

In a press launch, The Lancet referred to the paper as a “gold-standard proof overview.”

The outline echoes language from members of the Trump administration. Throughout the September announcement, Kennedy stated the Nationwide Institutes of Well being would unleash “unbiased, depoliticized, gold customary scientific analysis and tutorial freedom” in its investigation of autism’s causes.

4 researchers who weren’t concerned within the new paper praised its rigor.

“I don’t assume there’s a greater approach to analyze the information than this Lancet paper does,” stated David Mandell, a psychiatry professor on the College of Pennsylvania.

The seven-person crew behind the brand new paper, from the U.Okay., Italy and Sweden, used three strategies to guage research printed by September.

First, they excluded research that didn’t evaluate pregnancies during which Tylenol had been used to these with out it, in addition to analysis that didn’t disclose pregnant ladies’s well being histories or which drugs they had been taking. In addition they didn’t embody research that requested ladies to self-report whether or not they had taken Tylenol and whether or not their little one had autism. As a substitute, the researchers relied solely on research that used medical data or questionnaires administered or reviewed by a well being care supplier. Out of 1000’s of research, 43 made the lower.

Subsequent, the researchers rated the research based mostly on their high quality and whether or not any elements might have biased the outcomes. They excluded poor high quality ones, resembling people who didn’t comply with examine contributors for very lengthy or didn’t clearly outline the well being outcomes.

Lastly, they did a more in-depth evaluation of the 2 most sturdy research on Tylenol use and autism, which every in contrast giant teams of siblings — one which had been uncovered to Tylenol in utero and one which had not. The siblings shared genetics and had been raised in roughly the identical surroundings, with the identical socioeconomic and academic backgrounds, so the researchers might presume that these elements didn’t affect the examine outcomes.

All three strategies led to the identical conclusion: There was no hyperlink between Tylenol use in being pregnant and neurodevelopmental issues.

“Regardless of which means they analyze them, they discover that acetaminophen doesn’t trigger ADHD or autism or mental incapacity,” Mandell stated.

When requested in regards to the findings, an official from the Well being and Human Companies Division stated the evaluation doesn’t resolve the query of whether or not Tylenol use is linked to autism. The official alleged that the paper engineers a discovering by excluding proof and designing a examine with a bias towards exhibiting no affiliation.

“In accordance with HHS, many consultants have expressed concern of the usage of acetaminophen throughout being pregnant,” stated Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the division.

Nixon named, particularly, Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, dean of school on the Harvard T.H. Chan Faculty of Public Well being, whose overview final yr, printed within the journal Environmental Well being, discovered an affiliation between autism and Tylenol use in being pregnant. The Trump administration cited the analysis as proof of Tylenol’s purported dangers. Baccarelli didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Khalil stated that Baccarelli’s overview and different small research which have discovered such associations in all probability didn’t do sufficient to exclude confounding elements.

Mandell additionally stated Baccarelli’s overview didn’t comb by practically as many papers as the brand new evaluation did.

“On the very least, it suggests a sloppy search,” he stated.

Within the months since his preliminary statements about Tylenol, Trump has doubled down, writing on Fact Social earlier this month: “Pregnant Ladies, DON’T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.”

Nonetheless, a written warning that the Meals and Drug Administration despatched to physicians— which Trump and Kennedy introduced in September — simply stated to “take into account minimizing the usage of acetaminophen.” The warning additionally stated the treatment was nonetheless the most secure over-the-counter possibility for decreasing ache and fevers throughout being pregnant and described the supposed affiliation between Tylenol and autism as “an ongoing space of scientific debate.”

Autism researchers say there’s no purpose to debate the subject any longer.

“The query has been answered,” stated Alycia Halladay, chief science officer on the Autism Science Basis, who wasn’t concerned within the new paper. “There was by no means a relationship between acetaminophen and autism. We will cease speaking about this now and concentrate on what does trigger autism as an alternative of complicated households and persevering with responsible the mom.”

Rosie O’Donnell is asking out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his baseless claims about individuals with autism. On Wednesday, April 16, the Well being and Human Companies Secretary held a press convention discussing a CDC examine that discovered 1 in 31 kids within the nation had been identified with autism by age 8 in 2022. He then went on to assert that autism “destroys households” earlier than falsely declaring that individuals on the spectrum can’t do sure issues like “play baseball.”