Primal Health Databank: Study

Entry No:0770
Title:Prenatal paracetamol exposure and asthma: further evidence against confounding
Author(s):Shaheen SO, Newson RB, Smith GD, et al.
Reference:Int J Epidemiol. 2010 Jun;39(3):790-4. Epub 2010 Mar 30.
Place of Study:UK
Abstract:In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population-based birth cohort, the authors compared the univariate effects of maternal use of paracetamol in pregnancy on risk of doctor-diagnosed asthma, wheeze and elevated immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the offspring at 7 years of age, with the univariate effects of partner's use and postnatal maternal use on these phenotypes. Maternal use of paracetamol in pregnancy was strongly associated with all outcomes. Partner's use was very weakly associated with asthma but not associated with wheezing or IgE. Postnatal maternal use was associated with asthma and wheezing, though less strongly than was prenatal use, and was not associated with IgE. On mutual adjustment, the effects of maternal use in pregnancy on all outcomes were not substantially attenuated, whereas the effects of partner's use on asthma, and of postnatal maternal use on asthma and wheezing, were reduced. These findings suggest that the relation between maternal use of paracetamol in pregnancy and childhood asthma is unlikely to be confounded by unmeasured behavioural factors linked to paracetamol use.
Keyword(s):asthma, asthma in childhood, paracetamol
Discussion:No discussion mentioned for this entry
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