Minnesota doctors blast Trump’s Tylenol recommendation

Doctors in Minnesota blasted Donald Trump’s suggestion that pregnant women shouldn’t take Tylenol, denouncing the president’s claim that the over-the-counter drug leads to autism.

Trump on Monday said pregnant women should “fight like hell” not to take Tylenol, with the active ingredient acetaminophen, saying it “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.” Doctors say no direct link between the long-used drug and autism has been proven.

Alongside recommending pregnant women not take Tylenol, Trump touted an unproven treatment for autism using a drug that has long been used to balance the effects of chemotherapy. The president’s comments come amid his administration’s broader shakeup of the American health care system.

The federal vaccine advisory committee previously declined to recommend COVID-19 vaccines, a decision Minnesota officials defied, allowing pharmacists to give the shots without prescriptions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration acknowledged in a news release that a causal link has not been established between autism and acetaminophen. And some studies counter what the regulator described as “an association between acetaminophen and neurological conditions.”

Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in a statement that the administration’s announcement “dangerously simplifies” the many causes of neurological challenges in children.

“Suggestions that acetaminophen use in pregnancy causes autism are not only highly concerning to clinicians, but also irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients,” Fleischman said, “including those who may need to rely on this beneficial medicine during pregnancy.”

Dr. Molly Sajady, a developmental pediatrician at Children’s Minnesota, said acetaminophen is one of the only available and safe options for pain control during pregnancies, as studies have shown that other common over-the-counter medicines such as ibuprofen are not conducive to development.

Dr. Lisa Mattson, a retired OB-GYN and the president-elect of the Minnesota Medical Association, said the drug is recommended for women experiencing a fever, infection or significant pain.

“If a cup of tea and a warm bath and a good night’s sleep will take care of what ails you, that’s what we would prefer any woman to do, because we can’t ever guarantee with 100 percent safety anything that we offer a woman,” Mattson said. “But Tylenol has been used for decades and has been found to be very, very safe in women.”

Sajady said the administration’s recommendations are frustrating as no “high-quality scientific studies” demonstrate that using acetaminophen in pregnancy causes autism. Even if the two factors are statistically correlated, that doesn’t mean one causes the other. She compared it to the correlation between drowning incidents and ice cream consumption:

“When there is more ice cream being eaten in the world, there’s also more drowning deaths occurring in the world,” the doctor said. “What would be the [common] variable of that? Well, it’s summertime.”

“It’s always disturbing when you hear someone who is not a clinician and who has power telling people information that’s going to scare them unnecessarily and interfere with their care,” she said.

Mattson said doctors are constantly considering risks and benefits when considering treatments, adding that licensed medical professionals are the best source of medical advice. Sajady said, “We’re here to talk.”