Sorting fact from fear on Tylenol

Acetaminophen is safest option for pain relief in pregnancy, physicians say.

- CORINNE PURTILL

MARK SCHIEFELBEIN Associated Press PRESIDENT Trump spoke Monday from the Roosevelt Room with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

During this week’s White House news conference in which President Trump named the over-the-counter drug Tylenol as a possible cause of rising autism rates, he did not mince words, urging pregnant women to “fight like hell” not to take it.

But outside those remarks in the Roosevelt Room — during which Trump himself acknowledged, “I’m not so careful with what I say” — the discussion on the common fever and pain reliever’s role during pregnancy is a lot more nuanced.

What the research actually says

Physicians, researchers on the very studies cited in support of Trump’s position and even other members of the president’s administration are largely united on a few key facts: Untreated fevers in pregnancy pose real risks to the fetus, acetaminophen (Tylenol’s active ingredient) remains the safest medication to treat them and any pregnant person seeking advice on the issue should consult their doctor.

"All that we should be asking of the medical profession [is] to actually weigh the risks and benefits for the women, with the women, and be cautious about chronic use of pain medications," said Dr. Beate Ritz, a UCLA professor of epidemiology who co-authored a paper published last month that the White House cited as evidence for the link between Tylenol and autism.

Ritz said it has been misinterpreted.

The conclusion of the paper, which reviewed existing studies on the topic, was that the association between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and later diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders in kids was strong enough to merit doctors' consideration when determining how to treat fever or pain in pregnancy.