Painkiller Usage During Pregnancy
Linked to Male Offspring's Reproductive Disorders
A study published on October 14,
2010 in the Oxford journal, Human Reproduction, shows a link
between mothers who took painkillers such as acetaminophen,
aspirin and ibuprofen during pregnancy, and an increase in
future reproductive problems in their male children. Reuters
news in London also published a November 9, 2010 article on
this study and stated that women who took a combination of
more than one of these drugs during pregnancy had an
increased risk of giving birth to sons with undescended
testicles.
The
study showed that the condition of undescended testicles,
known as cryptorchidism, is linked to later creating poor
semen quality and a greater risk of testicular cancer in the
male's adult life. The article noted that this could explain
the sharp increase over the past few decades in male reproductive disorders.
Lead researcher Henrik Leffers
of Rigshospitalet, the national hospital of Denmark,
commented, "Women may want to try to reduce their analgesic
use during pregnancy. However, as biologists this is not
something we can advise women about. So we recommend that
pregnant women seek advice from their physician." According
to Leffers' team, which consisted of researchers from
Finland, Denmark and France, more than half of pregnant
women in Western countries report taking mild analgesics.
The study was conducted by
questioning 834 women in Denmark and 1,463 in Finland about
their use of the painkillers during pregnancy. Their male
babies were then examined to see if there were any possible
reproductive issues related to undescended testicles.
Additional study work was done on rats which showed long
term effects of the usage of these drugs leading to
insufficient supplies of the male hormone testosterone
during a critical period of gestation when the male organs
are forming.
In the human part of the study,
the results showed that women who took more than one of
these painkillers simultaneously had a seven-fold increased
risk of giving birth to sons with this form of reproductive
problem as compared with women who took nothing.
Neal Patel of the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society commented in the Reuters article,
"This study adds to the body of evidence about the effect of
medicines on fetal development. However, due to study
limitations, further research is needed to draw firm
conclusions about the effect of painkillers on male
fertility."
In summing up the impact that
these findings could have on the human population, lead
researchers Leffers commented to Reuters, "Although we
should be cautious, the use of mild analgesics constitutes
by far the largest exposure to endocrine disruptors among
pregnant women, and use of these compounds is at present the
best suggestion for an exposure that can affect a large
proportion of the human population."
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