Childhood Asthma News: Children with Mild Asthma Can Take Acetaminophen, Tylenol Medication with No Problems
Acetaminophen Does Not Worsen Childhood Asthma
It was widely believed that frequent use of Tylenol and other drug variants with generic name acetaminophen worsen childhood asthma in children.
A new study shows that acetaminophen does not make it worse and it shows that the drug is actually safe to use on an as-needed basis. The drug is used by children for various conditions such as fever and pain relief.
Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen Drugs Do Not Worsen Childhood Asthma
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In the study of over 300 children ages 1 to 5 with mild asthma, they found that neither acetaminophen nor ibuprofen worsen the symptoms of childhood asthma. The children in the study had the symptoms of the condition a couple of times per week and were under asthma management therapies.
Both children groups had the same control therapies including inhaling glucocorticoids and taking of oral leukotriene receptor antagonists. All children in the study were observed closely for 48 weeks. The researchers were unable to find significant differences between the groups.
"Among young children with mild persistent asthma, as-needed use of acetaminophen was not shown to be associated with a higher incidence of asthma exacerbations or worse asthma control than was as-needed use of ibuprofen," the researchers wrote in the conclusions of their study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Erroneous Acetaminophen Childhood Asthma Studies
There have been several studies that indicate that acetaminophen has been shown to worsen the symptoms of childhood asthma. "Observational data from both pediatric and adult cohorts have suggested an association between acetaminophen use and concurrent asthma symptoms and decreased lung function," the study claimed.
The use of the drug reportedly decreased lung function and physicians have withheld acetaminophen from children because of the erroneous studies, Medscape points out. The researchers stated that their findings should address the concerns of asthmatic children being given with acetaminophen drugs with brand names Tylenol and Panadol.
The researchers explained that the erroneous studies had big biases in their observation because they reportedly did not use randomized designs for their trials. It may have been possible that the results of the study were due to respiratory infections from children and not from acetaminophen, the researchers said as noted by Eureka Alert.
It is not known if the acetaminophen study is applicable to all other age groups including adults with asthma as it was only done on children age 5 and below. The researchers did not include children with severe forms of childhood asthma as well.
