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Associations between prenatal paracetamol exposure and brain development from ages 4-16: A longitudinal MRI study
Stine Kleppe Krogsrud1, Hedvig Nordeng2, James M Roe3
1Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC), Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; School of Health Sciences, Kristiania University of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway; Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Norway.
Prenatal paracetamol exposure may be linked to minor differences in fetal brain structure, but it did not affect cognitive abilities like IQ in children. Further research is needed to understand the clinical significance.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Radiology
Background:
- Concerns exist regarding prenatal paracetamol (acetaminophen) exposure and fetal neurodevelopment.
- Longitudinal data on the impact on brain structure and cognition is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between prenatal paracetamol exposure and structural brain development.
- To examine the relationship between prenatal paracetamol exposure and cognitive abilities in children and adolescents.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 447 children (aged 4.1-16.2 years) using 905 MRI scans.
- Data from The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Study (MoBa) and Medical Birth Registry of Norway.
- Exposure assessed via maternal self-reported paracetamol use; analyzed using vertex-wise linear mixed effect models.
Main Results:
- Exposed children showed slightly smaller cortical surface area and volume in some brain regions.
- Observed differences were small, with largely overlapping distributions between groups.
- No significant effects of prenatal paracetamol exposure on working memory capacity or IQ scores were found.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal paracetamol exposure may be associated with subtle brain structural variations, particularly with long-term exposure.
- The clinical significance of these minor brain structure differences remains uncertain due to observational design and potential confounding.
- Cognitive outcomes in children appear unaffected by prenatal paracetamol exposure.
