Trump administration to link Tylenol use during pregnancy to autism: What research says

On Monday, the Trump administration is expected to link pregnant women's use of Tylenol, known as paracetamol elsewhere in the world, to the risk of autism, according to The Washington Post.

The officials plan to warn pregnant women against using the drug early on, unless they have a fever, according to the report published on Sunday. They are also expected to announce leucovorin, a lesser-known drug, as a potential autism treatment.

The federal health officials have been reportedly reviewing research, including the recent one by Mount Sinai and Harvard researchers, that suggests that prenatal acetaminophen ( the active ingredient in Tylenol) use may be linked to increased risk of autism and ADHD.

Here’s everything you need to know about Tylenol and what some of the previous studies have said about its link to autism.

What is Tylenol?

Tylenol is a brand name for acetaminophen, a widely used over-the-counter medication that relieves mild to moderate pain and reduces fever. Known as paracetamol in some countries, it is one of the most common pain relievers available without a prescription in the United States.

Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in this medication. It helps alleviate headaches and body aches and lowers fever.

This medication is commonly used to relieve fever, headaches, muscle aches, minor aches and pains, sore throat, cough, and cold. It is available as tablets, capsules, patches, liquid suspensions, suppositories, and even in combination products.

Is Tylenol use during pregnancy linked to autism? Here’s what research says

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A Mount Sinai study published in Aug. 2025, in the BMC Environmental Health, says that prenatal acetaminophen use may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

Though acetaminophen has been considered the safest option for managing headache, fever, and other pain, the researchers analysed 46 studies involving data from more than 100,000 participants across multiple countries, which questions this perception, and stresses the need for both caution and further study. They applied the rigorous Navigation Guide methodology, a gold-standard framework for synthesizing and evaluating environmental health data.

“Our findings show that higher-quality studies are more likely to show a link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and increased risks of autism and ADHD. Given the widespread use of this medication, even a small increase in risk could have major public health implications,” Diddier Prada, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Population Health Science and Policy, and Environmental Medicine and Climate Science, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a statement.

The study also explores the biological mechanisms that could explain the link between acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders. Acetaminophen is known to cross the placental barrier and may trigger oxidative stress, disrupt hormones, and cause epigenetic changes that interfere with fetal brain development. Though the study does not show that acetaminophen directly causes neurodevelopmental disorders, it strengthens the evidence for a link, which raises concerns about current clinical practices.

They have emphasized the importance of cautious, time-limited use of acetaminophen during pregnancy under medical supervision.

“Pregnant women should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors. Untreated pain or fever can also harm the baby. Our study highlights the importance of discussing the safest approach with health care providers and considering non-drug options whenever possible,” Dr. Prada emphasized.

Meanwhile, a large sibling study from Drexel University and Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet published in Apr. 2024 in the JAMA journal found no evidence to support a causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and increased risk of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability in children. The researchers used data from a nationwide cohort of over 2.4 million children born in Sweden, including siblings not exposed to the drug before birth. They tracked each child for up to 26 years after birth, and found a small increased risk of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability in the overall population, as seen in similar previous studies that reported such a link. But the study found no increased risk of any of the conditions.

“This study’s findings may be welcome news for birthing people who use acetaminophen as a pain or fever management option, since there are few safe alternatives for relief available. We hope that our results provide reassurance to expectant parents when faced with the sometimes fraught decision of whether to take these medications during pregnancy when suffering from pain or fever,” Renee M. Gardner, PhD, of Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, and co-senior author, said in a statement.


“Our study and others suggest there are many different health and familial factors that are associated with both acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders. Genetics likely plays a role, but future work to elucidate this mechanism is crucial,” Brian Lee, PhD, an associate professor in Drexel’s Dornsife School of Public Health, fellow at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, research affiliate at the Karolinska Institutet, and co-senior author, added.