European Review Confirms Paracetamol Safety in Pregnancy Despite Autism Claims

The team ran a rigorous systematic review and meta-analysis, hunting down 43 high-quality studies on paracetamol use in pregnancy and kids' neurodevelopment. They used standard tools to weed out bias and zeroed in on the gold-standard data: three massive sibling studies tracking over 260,000 children for autism, 335,000 for ADHD, and 405,000 for intellectual issues. These compared kids from the same mom—one exposed to paracetamol in utero, the other not—ruling out shared genes or family factors that could skew results.

Findings? Zero causal links across the board. Even pooling all solid studies, no ties emerged to autism, ADHD, or cognitive delays. Past research hinting at risks—like a 2025 US review of 46 studies cited by Trump—was riddled with confounders, such as fever or pain itself harming fetuses if untreated. A 2024 Swedish study echoed this: no connections.

Khalil stresses reassurance: "Stick to the lowest dose for the shortest time." Untreated pain or fever risks mom and baby far more. Grainne McAlonan, a neuroscience expert at King's College London not involved, hailed it as a "game-changer" to end the panic.

This study arms doctors and parents with bias-free facts, proving paracetamol's safety while spotlighting why weak data sparks needless fear.

REFERENCE: D'Antonio, Francesco et al.; Prenatal paracetamol exposure and child neurodevelopment: a systematic review and meta-analysis; The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health; doi: 10.1016/S3050-5038(25)00211-0