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A new study in the July 2008 issue of Autism finds that acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with autistic disorder:
The present study was performed to determine whether acetaminophen (paracetamol) use after the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination could be associated with autistic disorder. This case-control study used the results of an online parental survey conducted from 16 July 2005 to 30 January 2006, consisting of 83 children with autistic disorder and 80 control children. Acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was significantly associated with autistic disorder when considering children 5 years of age or less (OR 6.11, 95% CI 1.42—26.3), after limiting cases to children with regression in development (OR 3.97, 95% CI 1.11—14.3), and when considering only children who had post-vaccination sequelae (OR 8.23, 95% CI 1.56—43.3), adjusting for age, gender, mother’s ethnicity, and the presence of illness concurrent with measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. Ibuprofen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was not associated with autistic disorder.
Researchers involved are at University of California San Diego, and San Diego State University.
Since the study was based on online surveys by parents, it’s possible that the participants were parents who were more likely to link a child’s first signs of autism to some external agent, such as acetaminophen or vaccines.
At least one parent is rethinking what pain relief medication to give a young child in the wake of this study.
Tylenol is just a cover up to what is really wrong with the body and vaccines are full of toxins and known harmful substances. If you dont give vaccines you wont have to worry about if their body cant filter the toxins. I would not give tylenol, ever. Maybe Big Pharma is looking for a scape goat (tylenol) to cover up that vaccines cause not only autism but so many other side effects? hmm. follow the money people, open your eyes.
Last year I was hit by the relation of Tylenol and Autism. The increase in autism started around the same time parents were instructed to quit using baby aspirin. Everyone switched to Tylenol.Coincidence?
Hmm..I know I gave tylenol to my kids when they got their shots. But so did my sister and her kids are not autistic.
Ask the right people and you will get the results you want. ;)
Actually, reflecting on what Bonnie said in her comment, if that’s been some kind of “common knowledge” for awhile then that already throws a huge potential source of bias into a survey study of this type (besides the fact that you really don’t have any idea who the respondents are, or the accuracy of the responses in an online survey).
I gave my daughter who is now 18 baby tylenol before and after her shots as advised by our pediatrician. She is NT. I did the same for my son. He is ASD. If I had a baby now, I would do it all again. These “surveys” are NOT helpful. I have a niece who said that her husband thinks her 5 month son has autism. They live in CA. I watched her baby, and asked her “What do YOU really think?” She said, “He’s fine.” I think that awareness is good, but scaring new parents is wrong.
Phil Schwarz wrote “(And sooner or later some quack is gonna figure out how to make a buck off the guilt-trips.)”—–kind of think that’s already happening—–
The authors frame this as preliminary and discuss factors such as not being a random sample which the demographics seem to indicate, I have some questions about the experimental group being used to recruit participants to act as controls, various assumptions that were made, discussion of potential recall bias, and the small respondent samples for the questions on ibuprofen. FWIW, the respondents were primarily recruited through the Schafer newsletter and Valerie’s List, and others via Google advertising through a keyword search.
I am not expert in survey design and analysis of this type, so I would be interested in the assessment by someone who is,such as EpiWonk, but this struck me as very preliminary on reading, possibly having some control issues, and not a smoking gun.
As stated by the authors,
“This is the first case-control study to show a possible association of acetaminophen use with AD, and is consistent with our ecological study (Schultz et al., submitted). The findings may be coincidental. More research needs to be completed to confirm the results of this preliminary study.”
It’s stated that the survey itself is available on request from the lead author.
We didn’t give our kids anything before or after immunization. Yet here we are. Another theory blown for our case. :P
Here we go again. Poorly designed study nevertheless gets internalized as guilt-trip by too many parents. (And sooner or later some quack is gonna figure out how to make a buck off the guilt-trips.)
The history of autism is an endless repetition of lessons-never-learned.
People, it’s gonna be Groundhog Day every friggin’ morning, until we stop with the guilt-tripping and obsession with cause-and-cure and get on with the business of helping our kids become the best they can become. As autistic people.
M writes:
“Unfortunately, the study seems to be quite poorly designed.
I am unsure why research of a higher quality cannot be published on these types of issues. Surely there is a more reliable way to collect data- even retrospectively.”
I do not understand it either. The journal “Autism” is by all accounts a peer-reviewed publication with an editorial board that includes people like Simon Baron-Cohen and Lorna Wing. Tony Attwood is one of the associate editors. I have a high regard for the opinions of all of these people. It is hard to understand how something sloppy like this managed to get past the peer-review process.
Unfortunately, the study seems to be quite poorly designed.
I am unsure why research of a higher quality cannot be published on these types of issues. Surely there is a more reliable way to collect data- even retrospectively.
You can’t infer causation from this study. All it means is that there was an association. Maybe the use of acetominophen is a marker for something else, like a febrile reaction to the vaccine, or a tendency of the child to be especially sensitive to sensory changes, or internal discomfort.
i don’t think that it means acetominophen is dangerous. . ., or is the cause of autism. . .
Andrea, same here. We’ve always found Tylenol to be pretty worthless for the kinds of fevers we get around here.
thanks for the link, rglovejoy—-I can’t remember at all what we may have given Charlie and when, as far as Tylenol/Motrin. No longer having to buy child-size or liquid, Charlie being fine taking capsules and bigger than me.
I have put together some of my own thoughts about this study at: http://rgeraldlovejoy.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-tylenol-mmr-cause-autism-really.html
I very rarely use Tylenol for either of my kids because I never found it to work very well, and Ibuprofin is also better at night since it lasts a bit longer. I’m almost positive we didn’t use it after MMR – don’t think we needed to use anything.
My doc ADVISES giving children tylenol right BEFORE the apt. to ward of the pain and fussiness and also the fact that after you get a shot you can feel yucky for a few days.
I gave Bug Baby/Kids Tylenol all the time when he was a kid. He would get ear infections, the dr. would always say, give him Baby Tylenol. The grape stuff was the only pain reliever/etc. that he would take….
After every vaccination, he would have a fever. So naturally, I would give him the Tylenol. OMG. I don’t know if this survey was/is bogus or not, but isn’t it smarter to just err on the safe side?
I have absolutely no recollection of whether or when we gave tylenol in relation to the MMR shot. I think I would have remembered had my son become sick shortly after the shot, though, so my guess is not.
I must say I have some reservations as well about the results of an online survey, given how such things are publicized and recruited for in certain online communities.
“This case-control study used the results of an online parental survey conducted from 16 July 2005 to 30 January 2006, consisting of 83 children with autistic disorder and 80 control children.”
An online survey? I smell bogusness.