What does a new study say about medication use?

Several studies have suggested a possible link between paracetamol and autism, but their quality is “low” or “extremely low”, according to the authors of the study published in BMJ.

Most of the time they do not take enough precautions to exclude other factors, such as genetic predispositions or the mother’s health problems.

These studies, therefore, do not offer much insight into the true mechanisms of cause and effect. They do not allow us to distinguish what comes directly from the use of paracetamol and, for example, from the pathologies that led the future mother to take treatment for fever or pain.

The observations make reference, in particular, to a study published in 2025 in the journal Environmental Health and frequently cited by the Trump administration.

The study found a correlation between the mother’s paracetamol consumption and autism spectrum disorders in the child, but warned, at the same time, that it was not possible to conclude the existence of a cause and effect mechanism.

Several experts praised the BMJ study. “It is based on a high-quality methodology that confirms what experts repeat around the world,” said Dimitrios Sassiakos, professor of Obstetrics at University College London, in a comment to the British Science Media Center.