"Yet another new study...is showing a link between asthma and acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol," The Time (8/13, Blue) "Wellness" blog reported. The latest paper, from the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reports, "13- and 14-year-olds who take acetaminophen are more than twice as likely to have asthma as teens the same age who never take the common over-the-counter painkiller."
The esearchers worked with data collected from 322,959 children, aged 13 to 14 years, from more than 100 centers in 50 countries. Data were collected by questionnaire on current symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema, as well as risk factors including acetaminophen exposure in the preceding 12 months.
The majority of the "teens (73%) reported using acetaminophen at least once in the previous year (medium use), and 30% said they had used it at least once a month (high use)," MedPage Today (8/13, Neale) reported. The investigators reported that heavy (monthly) users of acetaminophen had 2.5 times the asthma risk of nonusers.
However, because this and earlier findings derive from a cross-sectional study, it is impossible to conclude which, if either factor, may be the cause and which may be the effect. Additional reporting can be found at: the Los Angeles Times (8/13, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog, CNN /Health.com (8/13, Mann) and the UK's Telegraph (8/14, Smith).
