Abstract
Background
Studies have suggested a link between prenatal maternal acetaminophen use and adverse developmental outcomes in children. However, there exists a knowledge gap regarding overall cognitive development and use of acetaminophen, especially concerning the timing of use in pregnancy. This study aimed to characterize the relationship between maternal acetaminophen use and cognitive development at 4 years.
Methods
This analysis included data collected throughout pregnancy and delivery from women in the Ontario Birth Study prospective cohort from 2013 to 2019 and from the NIH Toolbox Early Childhood Cognition battery administered to 4-year-old children between 2018 and 2021 (n = 436). The exposure was maternal acetaminophen use and the primary outcome was a cognition composite score. The relationship between exposure and outcome was determined using Poisson regression with a robust error variance.
Results
We did not observe any association between maternal acetaminophen intake any time before or during pregnancy and low cognition composite score of offspring. The IRR of suboptimal overall cognition was 1.38 (0.78–2.45), 1.22 (0.67–2.22), 0.80 (0.44–1.47), and 1.56 (0.74–3.29) for maternal use of acetaminophen before, in early, late, or overall pregnancy, respectively.
Conclusion
Current data do not provide evidence to support a relationship of maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy with adverse cognitive effects at 4 years.
Impact
-
Acetaminophen use during pregnancy may influence the risk of child neurocognitive disorders, but there is conflicting evidence of its relationship to sub-clinical measures of cognitive development such as executive function.
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The study design allowed us to examine the role of timing of acetaminophen use in its relationship with cognitive development, based on a validated and standardized tablet-administered instrument for children, instead of a teacher or parent report.
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We did not observe a clear relationship between maternal acetaminophen use at different timepoints during pregnancy and child cognitive development.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the participants and staff of the Ontario Birth Study and the Ontario Birth Study-Kids.
Funding
This work was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CU3 160313] (to J.A.K.), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) [FDN 143262] (to S.J.L.), Cameron Holcombe Wilson Research Chair (to R.D.L.), Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, and CIHR Canada Research Chair (to R.J.H.).
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J.M.L., R.J.H., and J.A.K. conceived and designed the study, acquired and analyzed the data, and drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Lye, J.M., Knight, J.A., Arneja, J. et al. Maternal acetaminophen use and cognitive development at 4 years: the Ontario Birth Study. Pediatr Res 93, 959–963 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02182-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02182-w
