Tylenol orders drop among pregnant people after Trump falsely links the drug to autism

Tylenol orders drop among pregnant people after Trump falsely links the drug to autism

by sarah novak

On September 22, 2025, President Donald Trump held a White House briefing in which he announced that his administration would inform doctors that the use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, was associated with a “greatly increased risk of autism” – despite evidence to the contrary. Trump instead recommended that pregnant women limit their use of over-the-counter pain and fever relievers to only when they can’t “tough it out.” During the same briefing, Trump, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., recommended, without evidence, the use of a drug called leucovorin (folinic acid) to treat autism.

In the weeks following Trump’s announcement, the number of pregnant patient People taking paracetamol (another name for acetaminophen which is used internationally) in emergency rooms have fallen by 20 percent, according to an analysis published on Thursday. Knife. The researchers saw no difference in the number of emergency room orders for the drug in non-pregnant patients.

The study also found that the number of children aged five to 17 who were prescribed leucovorin as an outpatient increased by 71 percent.

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The researchers included 88,857 pregnant patients and 853,216 non-pregnant patients in the analysis. The findings suggest that the Trump administration’s announcement had a notable impact, although it is unclear from the data whether acetaminophen orders were changed due to patients refusing to take the painkiller or because of clinical decision-making by physicians. Experts say it was probably a combination of both.

“Immediately after this press conference, based on White House misstatements and misrepresentations of the data, thousands of women did not receive treatment for fever or pain,” says the study’s co-author. jeremy faustAn emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

High-quality studies have shown that acetaminophen is the safest available pain reliever and fever reducer to take during pregnancy. Ahead, untreated fever There are many risks to the fetus during pregnancy, including miscarriage, birth defects, and premature birth. fever during pregnancy It has also been linked to an increased chance of autism in offspring.

most consequential Study About acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism rates in children, published in Jama In 2024, approximately 2.5 million children in Sweden were followed from 1995 to 2019; In this, the genetic risk of autism was determined by comparing siblings. The study found no evidence of an increased likelihood of autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with acetaminophen use. “Within siblings where the mother took acetaminophen during one pregnancy, but not during the other, the siblings still had similar risk of autism and ADHD,” says. brian leeis a senior author of Jama Studies at Drexel University and an epidemiologist.

It is unclear from Knife Study whether pregnant patients were given a different drug or whether they were given it without it. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and aspirin are not considered safe during pregnancy because they may have side effects. low amniotic fluid And the risk of birth defects increases. And opioids carry a risk of addiction in the pregnant person and the baby after birth and can cause withdrawal symptoms later.

As for the drug leucovorin promoted by Trump and his FDA for treating autism, Lee says studies showing the drug’s effectiveness are “tentative at best.” The largest study of the drug involved only 77 children and was turned away in January due to errors in its data analysis.

“Words matter, and patients and providers want to be able to trust the guidance coming from our government institutions,” says jennifer bravermana maternal and fetal medicine physician at the University of Colorado Medicine who was not involved in the study. She adds that as a result of Trump’s announcement, many pregnant women were either given something less safe or simply told to move around. “It’s very dismissive of women’s pain and suffering,” she says.

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