Investigators found that girls whose mothers took acetaminophen had smaller wombs and fewer ovarian follicles, but said the drug may not be to blame.
By Catholics for Catholics
Women’s reproductive organ development may be affected by a mother’s use during pregnancy of Tylenol or its generic versions, according to researchers who stress that their study does not prove the pain medicine is responsible and does not denote any effect on future fertility.
According to a story by the Epoch Times, on average, infant girls subjected to the drug “in the womb had smaller ovaries; fewer ovarian follicles, which are the structures that contain immature eggs; smaller wombs; and lower levels of reproductive hormones, according to the findings of the study published Wednesday in Human Reproduction Open.”
“Long-term follow-up will be required to determine whether the differences observed in infants have implications for fertility later in life and a woman’s age at menopause, study leader Margit Bistrup Fischer of Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen said in a statement accompanying the study,” according to the Times’ story.
Still, according to the Time’s story, women who have ingested Tylenol, the brand name for the generic drug acetaminophen, commonly known as paracetamol outside of North America, during pregnancy should not be troubled, Fischer said.
“Animal studies have demonstrated that impaired formation of ovarian follicles can lead to reduced fertility and earlier reproductive aging. Whether the differences observed in our study have implications for fertility and age at menopause in humans remains unknown and will require long-term follow-up of the girls in our cohort.
“Women who have used paracetamol during pregnancy should not be alarmed by our findings. Our study examined associations at the population level and cannot predict outcomes for any individual woman or child,” she said.
President Donald Trump has connected the use of Tylenol during pregnancy to autism, a claim that has allegedly been widely dismissed by the medical community and major health organizations as lacking scientific backing.
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