More than half of pregnant women take Tylenol (acetamenophen) and according to an article published in the JAMA journal, Pediatrics, the risk of their child developing ADHD rose substantially. This was a study of 64,322 children and mothers in the Danish National Birth Cohort between 1996 and 2002.
The risk of developing a severe form of ADHD called hyperkinetic disorder increased 37%, 29% were more likely to be prescribed ADHD drugs, and 13% were more likely to develop ADHD behavior by age 7. The overall risk of developing ADHD rose from 5.5% to 7%. While the authors thought this was only a modest increase and that there was "no special reasons for concern," we think it would be foolish to take the risks suggested because tens of thousands of kids would be at risk of developing ADHD!
