For years, Tilanol is generally safe to treat pain and fever – even during pregnancy, when doctors inhibit patients from using many medications.
Doctors may even recommend that Taylinol take pain or fever during pregnancy, because, they were not left without treatment, they can form their own health risks.
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But recent news reports on the federal government linking Tilanol to autism raised new questions and concerns about drugs.
Some things are clear.
After years of research, no study showed that acetaminophen, the main component of Tilanol, causes autism. There is no one known reason for autism, a nervous condition that affects how someone works and continues.
But some scientific terms, such as the “association”, can confuse the issue. Some research says there is a relationship between acetaminophen consumption during pregnancy and autism. Some other research says that there is no connection.
But in both cases, there is an important warning: “the link” is not the same causal. This means that research that shows a connection between the drug and autism does not mean that the drug causes autism.
Here is what you should know.
Doctors say it is safe to use acetaminophen for fever and pain during pregnancy
After the Wall Street Journal reported about the plans of health minister Robert Kennedy Junior to connect Tilanol to autism, the prenatal care and care institutions have repeated their long -supported support to use acetaminophen during pregnancy.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Mother Medicine Association said that acetaminophen is a safe way to treat pain and fever when used in moderation.
“Pregnant patients should not be afraid of the many benefits of acetaminophen, which is safe and one of the few options that pregnant women suffer to relieve pain.”
In fact, Dr. Salina Zanotti, obstetrician and gynecologist, told Cleveland Clinic earlier this year that acetaminophen is the most safe drug that he consumes during pregnancy for fever and pain.
“When you are pregnant, it is risking that you have a non -processing fever than taking acetaminophen,” Zanotti said.
Zanotti said other common pain relievers, such as ibuprofen or naproxen, are not recommended during pregnancy because they may harm the development of the fetus. The US Food and Drug Administration said in 2023, it is recommended that these non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs, or non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs should not be used during pregnancy after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The presence of an unspeakable fever during pregnancy can harm the child
Zan said that ignoring medical conditions such as fever that can be treated with acetaminophen during pregnancy “is much more dangerous than theoretical fears based on non -decisive reviews of conflicting science.”
CDC centers (CDC) says that during pregnancy fever is linked to negative results, including birth defects.
In -pregnancy during pregnancy have health risks for the mother and infants, including premature birth, according to the SMFM.

The research has not proven that the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy causes autism
No study showed that the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy leads to growth disabilities, including autism.
But the language used in scientific research can be confusing. Words such as “correlation”, “correlation” and “increased risk” in studies on the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy do not mean that the drug causes disability such as autism.
“The association” and “increased risk” differ from the “causal link”.
Zan said that FDA, SMFM and ACOG have reviewed all available research on the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and cases of subsequent nervous growth in children and did not find any evidence to prove that the drug caused these disabilities.
He added: “The vast majority of studies conducted on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy are not decisive and unable to confirm the causal relationship between the wise use of iyaminophen during pregnancy and the issues of the fetus growth.”
What are the possible connections between acetaminophen and childhood development
For more than a decade, scientists have investigated potential links between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and developmental disability.
Some studies have found positive connections between acetaminophen and autism, which means that children whose mothers took the medicine during pregnancy are more likely at a later symptom of autism or are diagnosed with autism.
The 2025 Mountain Sinai Study, which reviewed some current research, concluded that the available evidence supported a relationship between exposure to prenatal tool and increased nervous growth disorders.
But the biggest study on this topic, since 2024, did not find any evidence that supports an increased risk of autism, ADHD (ADHD) or mental disability associated with the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy.
Zan said that the 2024 study is one of the most quality studies on this topic, and neither of them found a link between the use of acetaminophen and the harmful neurological results.
What does this mean for disorganized fathers? The connection between acetaminophen and autism “depends on limited, conflicting, uncompromising sciences and prematurely, given the current science,” according to the Autism Science Foundation (ASF).
There are other wrinkles: the possibility of “prejudice to publishing”, which is a phrase that describes when scientific publications avoid spreading results that do not show important connections.
This means that studies that do not find a relationship between autism and asytaminophen are less likely to be published, said Dr. Gutt Lewis, Dean of the School of Medicine at Old Dominion and Chairman of the SMFM Publications Committee.
What may explain the link between acetaminophen and autism?
Research has shown that genetics plays a role in autism. ASF said that hundreds of genes are associated with autism, as well as some environmental factors such as the extent that the old parents are when the child is perceived, or low birth weights, fever or disease during pregnancy.
Brian Lee, a professor of epidemics at the University of Drexelle, co -authored the 2024 study, which valued data on approximately 2.5 million births in Sweden from 1995 to 2019 to evaluate the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and the risk of autism. Lee said that the study initially repeated a small statistical association between the use of acetaminophen, the risk of autism and ADHD.
“However, when we conducted the analysis of the brothers, the siblings compared (born with the same mother), the association has completely disappeared,” he said. “We analyze brotherhood because it allows us to control the genetic and environmental factors that we do not face otherwise.”
He told me that the analysis of the brothers showed that other factors caused the initial statistical association. The paper highlighted the possibility that genetics is a variable that can predict the use of both medications to relieve pain and the danger of the child from autism.
He told me that the genetic preparation of the mother of autism and ADHD, which is also a hereditary, is associated with “greater pain in pregnancy, more headache and migraines, and further use of medications that reduce pain.” In other words, it is likely that mothers who suffer from autism or hyperactivity disorder and attention lack are more than the conditions that make them use acetaminophen – and that the same genetic predisposition can be what increases the possibility of a child.
Another consideration: Many studies depend on the use of self -reported acetaminophen for parents, so that the data can be unreliable.
It may be likely that someone will remember to take acetaminophen during pregnancy if his child has autism or hyperactivity disorder and attention lack, for example – especially if they believe that there can be a link between medicine and diagnosis, according to Dr. Eren Clark, a professor of obstetrics at the University of Utah and gynecology. A person may be less likely to remember to take acetaminophen during pregnancy if his child does not receive such a diagnosis.
Zoe Gross, director of the invitation in the autism network, said other considerations may explain any connection between acetaminophen and autism. Cases that cause someone from acetaminophen during pregnancy – such as fever or migraines – may increase the possibility that the child has autism.
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