Children whose mother's took acetaminophen while pregnant are more likely to have persistent symptoms of asthma at age five according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. The study was conducted in 300 African-American and Dominican Republic children living in New York City and builds on previous studies of pre- and post-natal acetaminophen use.
The study found that the relationship was stronger in a subset of children with a variant gene for the enzyme glutathione S transferase. The enzyme is involved in the detoxification of foreign substances in the body and the variant form is commonly found in African-American and Hispanic populations. This result suggests that less efficient detoxification may be the link between acetaminophen and asthma.
The researchers found that 34 percent of the mothers reported using acetaminophen during pregnancy and 27 percent of the children experienced wheezing, a symptom of asthma. These children were more likely to wheeze, visit an emergency room for respiratory problems, and develop allergic symptoms than children whose mothers did not take the common analgesic. The effects diminished as the children aged from 40 percent at one-year to 27 percent at 5 years of age. A similar study in the United Kingdom found similar results.
Acetaminophen use among children in the U.S. has increased dramatically since the early 1980's possibly in part due to the discovery of the association between aspirin use and Reye’s syndrome in children. This rise coincides with the increase of asthma diagnoses. The findings in the current study provide a possible explanation for the rise in asthma especially in minority populations, and suggest caution for the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy.
Citation: Perzanowski MS, Miller RL, Tang D, Ali D, Garfinkel RS, Chew GL, Goldstein IF, Perera FP, Barr RG. Prenatal acetaminophen exposure and risk of wheeze at age 5 years in an urban low-income cohort. Thorax. 2010 Feb;65(2):118-23.
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