“Children who take paracetamol during their first two years of life may be at a higher risk of developing asthma by the age of 18, especially if they have a particular genetic makeup,” researchers at the The University of Melbourne found.
However, you shouldn’t panic – or bin your Panadol yet.
The study was small – with only 620 children considered very likely to develop an allergy-related disease. Each had at least one family member with asthma, eczema, hay fever or a severe food allergy.
Further, the study showed an association between paracetamol and asthma, not that it caused it. “Our findings provide more evidence that paracetamol use in infancy may have an adverse effect on respiratory health for children with particular genetic profiles and could be a possible cause of asthma,” Ms Xin (Daisy) Dai, nurse and PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne’s Allergy and Lung Health Unit, said.
More work needs to be done. We’ll keep you posted.
