OPINION: Feds are wrong, Tylenol is safe for pregnant women

As an obstetrician-gynecologist practicing for years in New Mexico, I care for patients during some of the most intense and meaningful times in their lives. The trusting relationships that we form with our patients are critical to the provision of safe high quality care. In recent weeks, federal health authorities and the president himself have compromised that trust. They have raised concerns about the use of acetaminophen, a common pain relief medicine, during pregnancy. This has created confusion and fear, and these concerns fly in the face of scientific evidence. Despite these warnings, acetaminophen remains safe and medically important for use in pregnancy; that’s why I routinely recommend it to my patients when they need it.

Pregnant women — just like all of us — are subject to a spectrum of medical issues, including pain, headaches and fevers. But during pregnancy, these issues can also have major negative impacts on the fetus. Fevers can be extremely dangerous, potentially causing birth defects and/or the loss of the pregnancy. Headaches can be a sign of preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition; yet, if an over-the-counter medicine provides relief to the patient, it’s much less likely to be preeclampsia as preeclampsia headaches typically do not respond to common pain medication.

Other pain and fever relievers are usually not safe during pregnancy and carry their own risks to the fetus.

That’s where acetaminophen — known to many by its brand name Tylenol — comes in. Decades of research has shown that it does not pose a risk to the fetus and is effective at managing pain and reducing fevers.

I recently had a patient in early pregnancy who developed a severe viral illness. She could barely talk when I saw her in the emergency room, and she was by turns burning up and having shaking chills. Acetaminophen quickly lowered her temperature, giving her relief from her symptoms and ensuring a normal temperature for her growing pregnancy.

The recent announcement against taking acetaminophen cited studies claiming that acetaminophen might play a role in causing autism. But those studies did not meet scientific standards and did not show that acetaminophen actually caused any neurological disorders.

Importantly, other studies that were well designed and came to strong conclusions found that acetaminophen does not cause autism. For example, a Swedish study of nearly 200,000 children compared siblings — brothers and sisters whose mother used the same medications during pregnancy — and found that use of acetaminophen was not associated with autism, ADHD or intellectual disability.

My concern as an ob-gyn is that my patients are hearing the government warnings and believe that, by taking acetaminophen, they could be doing something harmful to their baby. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

In fact, following the government’s recommendation to avoid acetaminophen in pregnancy regardless of the scenario and to just “tough it out” and deal with pain, headaches and fevers without any medical intervention could expose women and their fetuses to the very harms they are trying to avoid.

As a doctor, I have cared for so many pregnant women who are doing their best to do all the right things to have a healthy baby and to give their children a great foundation. We expect our public health leaders to carefully and in an unbiased way review the science to make the best possible recommendations for pregnant women. Instead, the unfounded non-evidence-based recommendation to avoid acetaminophen at all costs stokes fear and exposes people to harm.

I’m here to reassure pregnant women that they do not need to suffer through pain or fevers because they are pregnant. In fact, doing so could cause more harm. If you need relief, please call your doctor and get medical advice that’s based on science.