INTERVENTION:
To avoid taking acetaminophen (Tylenol®) during pregnancy and avoid acetaminophen (Tylenol®) use by the infant for the first 6 months of life.
INTERVENTION GOAL:
To decrease risk of asthma.
EVIDENCE supporting INTERVENTION:
A large study suggested that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen increased risk of early childhood wheezing and asthma symptoms. This study was complicated by the fact that respiratory tract infections also modified the risk of wheezing and asthma.
Another recent study also found a suggestion of increased risk from both prenatal exposure and early infant exposure, but the authors did not feel that the evidence was strong enough to change national or international guidelines for acetaminophen use.
In 2010, a group of doctors in New York found a link between a particular gene and the risk for asthma associated with acetaminophen use. Unfortunately, the gene cannot be checked routinely, but this study suggests that it may only be a sub-group of patients who are at risk. This could also be an explanation why the larger studies have failed to see a consistent link.
POTENTIAL RISK:
Avoidance of acetaminophen could result in pain or discomfort or fever. May use ibuprofen in child after 6 months of age.
INTERVENTION SPECIFICS:
Avoid or at least minimize the use of Acetaminophen (Tylenol® as well as cough/cough preparations that contain acetaminophen) throughout the pregnancy.
Avoid or at least minimize the use of acetaminophen by the infant for 3 months to 1 year.