Asthma increase could be caused by paracetamol use
This is a perfect example of how many of the drugs that people take every day may not be as safe as they think. Paracetamol (acetominophen, Tylenol…) in this study shows a pretty strong link to asthma. Based on how widespread Tylenol use is, it is easy to see that this may produce some major impacts on community health. It’s always important to see why patients are using analgesics and try to fix the underlying problem so that taking the drug is not needed. Many parents use Tylenol to lower fever, and yet there are NO studies suggesting that lowering of the fever has any beneficial effects! Also interesting in this article was the finding that a child’s risk of asthma is markedly increased if one or both parents have asthma. What’s going to happen when today’s kids start having kids???
bmj.com Dyer 323 (7313): 592c
