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When a woman is pregnant , she instinctively wants to protect her unborn baby from any harm and often refuses to take even the most ­commonly used over-the-counter drugs, such as paracetamol. Well, now pregnant mums can rest easy and take that painkiller. A study has given paracetamol a virtually clean bill of health .

This new work is doubly important as it scotches the rumours that paracetamol causes autism and ADHD in the unborn babies of mothers who take it. Mums-to-be should now be freed of those anxieties, as should doctors. The study by Drexel University in ­Philadelphia, US, is the largest ever ­undertaken on paracetamol use, and was done in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in ­Stockholm, Sweden.



Together, they carried out the most robust risk analysis on giving birth to children with autism, ADHD or ­intellectual disability. Frankie Bridge fans obsessed with 'amazing' £45 linen River Island dress The strength of the study lies in the fact comparisons were made between siblings, where one baby had been exposed to paracetamol in the womb because the mum took it, and the other had not. The study encompassed data from 186,000 children whose mothers were prescribed paracetamol during pregnancy.

“By comparing siblings, we can control for important family factors,” says Brian Lee, an associate professor at Drexel University and co-author of the study. During its follow-up, which spanned up to 26 years, the researchers saw a slight increase in the preval.

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