If this article strikes your fancy – then you’ll never look at acetaminophen the same way again.
Published in Pediatrics, this is a bit of a commentary summarizing epidemiological data in both children and adults related to the association between acetaminophen (paracetamol) use and asthma. Specifically, that there is one, based on the studies he reviews, including:
• A prospective childhood asthma study of 520,000 subjects suggesting a dose-response effect between acetaminophen and asthma in children, up to an increased OR for wheezing of 3.25 for children taking acetaminophen at least once a month.
• A meta-analysis of six pediatric studies with a pooled increased OR for wheezing of 1.95 related to acetaminophen use.
• A meta-analysis of six adult studies with up to an increased OR for asthma of 2.87 for adults taking acetaminophen weekly.
…and several others. The author does not suggest any specific mechanism through which acetaminophen increases airway reactivity, but he has changed his practice to reduce acetaminophen usage to the minimum. I can’t say I disagree with his hypothesis, and there does appear to be a preponderance of mounting evidence, although I wouldn’t say this is an area where I am intimately familiar with the literature.
“The Association of Acetaminophen and Asthma Prevalence and Severity”
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22065272