Reacción a "Reactions to study associating paracetamol use in pregnancy with attention and sleep problems in children"

It remains unclear whether acetaminophen taken during pregnancy causes attention and sleep problems in offspring. In the US study, these outcomes were assessed by mothers, rather than by a relatively more independent party such as a teacher or clinician. It is possible that mothers with underlying anxiety are more likely to take acetaminophen and report such negative outcomes for their child, whether or not there is an underlying biological effect.

The researchers controlled for prenatal stress, which can, in some situations cause bias rather than control for it. Given these issues, along with the fact that the size of the associations observed by the researchers were small and that the researchers could not establish a dose-response relationship, the findings remain unclear.

What medication should be used for pain relief in pregnancy? The findings of this study certainly do not imply that common alternatives such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) should be used for pain relief in pregnancy instead of acetaminophen. Such alternatives may cause more harm.