Acetominophen, not vaccines, linked to autism, asthma

So a friend of mine shared this story and I'm so out of the loop on what's been going on in science the last few months that this came as a complete surprise. This article doesn't do a very good job at explaining that vaccines are absolutely no longer believed to cause autism, but the acetominophen that parents proactively or reactively give their children to counteract fever and pain associated with vaccinations IS now linked in a significant way to kids developing autism or asthma.

So I went and did a Pubmed search for any primary journal articles with the keywords acetominophen and autism and this was one that came back:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18445737
Autism. 2008 May;12(3):293-307. doi: 10.1177/1362361307089518.
Acetaminophen (paracetamol) use, measles-mumps-rubella vaccination, and autistic disorder: the results of a parent survey.
Schultz ST, Klonoff-Cohen HS, Wingard DL, Akshoomoff NA, Macera CA, Ji M.

University of California San Diego, USA.

Abstract

The present study was performed to determine whether acetaminophen (paracetamol) use after the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination could be associated with autistic disorder. This case-control study used the results of an online parental survey conducted from 16 July 2005 to 30 January 2006, consisting of 83 children with autistic disorder and 80 control children. Acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was significantly associated with autistic disorder when considering children 5 years of age or less (OR 6.11, 95% CI 1.42-26.3), after limiting cases to children with regression in development (OR 3.97, 95% CI 1.11-14.3), and when considering only children who had post-vaccination sequelae (OR 8.23, 95% CI 1.56-43.3), adjusting for age, gender, mother's ethnicity, and the presence of illness concurrent with measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. Ibuprofen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was not associated with autistic disorder. This preliminary study found that acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with autistic disorder.

Comment in: A response to the article on the association between paracetamol/acetaminophen: use and autism by Stephen T. Schultz. [Autism. 2009]

PMID: 18445737
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Feel free to check out the other 15 articles that came back. Some of them seem puzzling at first, but the reason they are in there is because of the biological/physical pathways that they believe the acetominophen affects that causes the development of autism or asthma (it interferes with inflammation, which is another immune response pathway). More large-scale studies are need to confirm, and to tease out exactly how what it does biochemically.

To be on the safe side, I'd recommend making absolute sure that you never overdose your children (with any meds, but acetominophen, and known liver carcinogen, for sure). I'm switching my kids to ibuprofen as well, just as a precaution, since it's safer for the liver than acetominophen.

I can't believe this hasn't been bigger news, frankly. The first indicated link was described in 2003, and there are multiple reviews published 5 years ago (that's ancient in research time) that more directly connect acetominophen and autism.


1. Prenatal and perinatal analgesic exposure and autism: an ecological link.
Bauer AZ, Kriebel D.

Environ Health. 2013 May 9;12:41. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-41.

PMID: 23656698
(Free PMC Article)

3. Acetaminophen may mediate oxidative stress and neurotoxicity in autism.
Ghanizadeh A.

Med Hypotheses. 2012 Feb;78(2):351. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2011.11.009. Epub 2011 Dec 9. No abstract available.

PMID: 22154541

7. Did acetaminophen provoke the autism epidemic?
Good P.

Altern Med Rev. 2009 Dec;14(4):364-72. Review.

PMID: 20030462
(Free Article)

9. Similarities in features of autism and asthma and a possible link to acetaminophen use.
Becker KG, Schultz ST.

Med Hypotheses. 2010 Jan;74(1):7-11. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.08.033. Epub 2009 Sep 11.

PMID: 19748189
(Free PMC Article)

12. Is fever suppression involved in the etiology of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders?
Torres AR.
BMC Pediatr. 2003 Sep 2;3:9. Epub 2003 Sep 2. Review.
PMID: 12952554
(Free PMC Article)