Childhood paracetamol linked to asthma

Children given paracetamol may be at a higher risk of developing allergies and asthma later in life, a new study suggests.

The popular painkiller can be found in children's medications such as Calpol and Benilyn, and is used to treat fevers, coughs and colds.

Researchers in New Zealand followed more than 1400 children under six years old, to find out if there was an association between paracetamol use and the development of asthma or allergies.

“The major finding is that children who used paracetamol before the age of 15 months (90%) were more than three times as likely to become sensitized to allergens and twice as likely to develop symptoms of asthma at six years old than children not using paracetamol,” said Professor Julian Crane from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

The study also found that by the age of six, 95 per cent of the children were using paracetamol and there was a significant increased risk for current asthma and wheeze.

However, the findings depended on how much paracetamol was being used, with the risk greater for those with severe asthma symptoms.

“The results at this stage are supportive of a role for paracetamol in asthma and allergic disease,” said Professor Crane.

“However at present we don’t know why this might be so. We need clinical trials to see whether these associations are causal or not, and to clarify the use of this common medication.”

Dr Elaine Vickers, Research Relations Manager at Asthma UK, said: "Several studies from around the world have suggested there may be a link between giving children paracetamol and an increase in their risk of asthma and other allergic conditions. However, they have not established that paracetamol causes asthma.

"We know that paracetamol is a safe and effective treatment for pain and fever if given according to the manufacturer’s directions and at this stage we believe the benefits of using paracetamol far outweigh the potential risks."

The study findings are published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy.

This article was published on Tue 30 November 2010