Paracetamol is one of the staples of the family medicine cabinet, a go-to standby for everything from headaches to aches and pains. However, a new study warns that the drug, an analgesic also known as acetaminophen, could actually lead to asthma. The American study also claims that paracetamol may exacerbate the symptoms of the chronic condition, which causes inflammation of the airways.
Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children and affects around 235 million people around the world.
The link between paracetamol and asthma was explored by Dr John McBride, director of the Robert R Stone Respiratory Centre at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio. He examined studies involving more than 520,000 children with asthma from 54 countries and concluded that 6-7-year-olds who have been given paracetamol at least once a year face a 60% increased risk of going on to develop asthma.
For those children who have been given the drug at least once a month, the risk of asthma more than tripled.
Another study examined paracetamol and its potential effects on asthma in 13-14-year-olds and concluded that those adolescents faced a 40% increase of developing the condition when given paracetamol regularly.
Dr McBride’s study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
It is expected that more research will now be carried out into whether paracetamol is a direct cause of asthma and whether its use will exacerbate the symptoms of the condition. Those symptoms typically include wheezing and coughing, tightness in the chest, difficulty in breathing and excess mucus.
Until now, the parents of young children at risk of asthma or already diagnosed with the condition have been given an indication of the dangers associated with paracetamol.
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