Paracetamol in pregnancy: Navigating clinical uncertainty and avoiding the communication pitfalls of the “measles, mumps, and rubella” - autism controversy: A narrative review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2026-9237Keywords:
Acetaminophen, autism spectrum disorder, evidence-based medicine, health communication, narrative review, neurodevelopmental disorders, paracetamol, pregnancy, risk communication, shared decision-makingAbstract
On September 22, 2025, the United States government announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would modify paracetamol (acetaminophen) labelling to warn of possible associations with autism, advising pregnant individuals to avoid the medication. This contradicts professional medical consensus and high-quality evidence, replicating communication failures of the 1998 MMR-autism controversy that caused vaccine hesitancy, disease outbreaks, and trust erosion. This narrative review synthesized epidemiological evidence on paracetamol safety in pregnancy, analyzed the September 2025 announcement through the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)-autism crisis lens, and proposed an evidence-based communication framework. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, supplemented with governmental statements, professional responses, and media analysis. The two highest-quality sibling-control studies (Swedish: 2.5 million; Japanese: 200,000 children) reported no causal associations between prenatal paracetamol exposure and neurodevelopmental outcomes after controlling genetic and familial confounding. Conversely, untreated maternal fever and pain carry established risks including neural tube defects, preterm birth, and maternal morbidity. The governmental announcement employed inflammatory categorical warnings contradicting FDA's nuanced advisory and scientific consensus. Professional organizations immediately issued strong rebuttals. This replicates MMR failures: governmental statements contradicting evidence, false media balance, and public confusion. The September 2025 announcement represents failure to apply MMR lessons. Healthcare providers must employ evidence-based shared decision-making emphasizing sibling-controlled studies show no causal relationship while untreated conditions carry established harms. The Precautionary Communication Principle provides framework for transparent uncertainty discussion without disproportionate alarm or undermining evidence-based medicine trust.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Helmi Ben Saad, Chamseddine Barki, Ismail Dergaa, Wissem Dhahbi, Halil İbrahim Ceylan, Nasr Chalghaf, Abdelfatteh EL Omri, Hanene Boussi Rahmouni
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