Paracetamol in pregnancy may affect child development

Long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may increase the risk of behavioural problems, poor gross motor skills and poor communication skills in children, a new study has warned.

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most commonly used medicine in pregnancy, yet there are very few studies that have investigated the possible long-term consequences for the child.

The new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health used data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study to investigate the effect of paracetamol during pregnancy on psychomotor development, behaviour and temperament at 3 years of age.

Almost 3,000 sibling pairs were included in the study.

By comparing children who were exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy with unexposed siblings of the same sex, researchers could control for a variety of genetic and environmental factors, in addition to other important factors such as infections, fever, use of other medications, alcohol intake and smoking.

The study found that children who had been exposed to paracetamol for more than 28 days of pregnancy had poorer gross motor skills, poor communication skills and more behavioural problems compared with unexposed siblings.

The same trend was seen with paracetamol taken for less than 28 days, but this was weaker.
To investigate whether the underlying illness could be the cause of the effect on the children, and not paracetamol itself, the researchers examined a different type of analgesic with another type of mechanism of action (ibuprofen).

The researchers did not find any similar long-term effects after use of ibuprofen.

"The results strengthen our concern that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may have an adverse effect on child development, but that occasional use for short periods is probably not harmful to the foetus," said Professor Hedvig Nordeng at the School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo.

"Importantly, we cannot assume that there is a causal relationship between maternal use of paracetamol during pregnancy and adverse effects in children from an epidemiological study.

"Since this is the only study to show this, there is a need for further research to confirm or refute these results," Nordeng said.

The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.








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World Mental Health Day: while doc & instructor take the pool way to help autistic kids!

If you happen to meet the boy, a hyper-active six-and half-year-old, you would probably never believe if we told you that last year a school he was attending  had asked him to leave because he was autistic.

Autism, a disorder that leads to abnormal self-absorption, is characterised by lack of response to people, and actions with limited ability to communicate.

He was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at an early age. “When the authorities found out about his disorder, they asked us to move him to another school,” recalls his father. Not in the mood to give up, the father consulted  a  homoeopath. The homoeopath had suggested him to take the boy to learn swimming near their residence, but the boy did not take too kindly to it,” the doctor said.

With no school ready to admit him, the family shifted base with the hope of getting proper treatment too. It was then that Dr. suggested them to take their son to swimming instructor Amal Upadhyay. The boy was treated with what Upadhyay calls, ‘hydrotherapy’ – a bunch of swimming exercises that enhance blood circulation and oxygen flow to all parts of the body. He taught him to swim in six days, which resulted in better hand-eye coordination as well as boosted his concentration levels. The change has been apparent in six months.

With Dr Patel’s treatment and Upadhyay’s swimming lessons, he soon blossomed — from a non-social and extremely restless person to a hyperactive child!

“Almost all the symptoms of autism, barring his borderline attention deficit disorder (ADD), are gone. Being an intensive exercise, hydrotherapy, also controls the hyperactivity levels, especially for autistic kids, who have high hormone (testosterone) levels,” explained Dr Patel.

“Earlier we used to get complaints of him not responding to teachers and other students at the school. Now they complaint about his incessant chatter,” the elated father gushed.

For the doctor-coach duo,he is not the first success story. “I have taught swimming to around 50 students with disabilities based on the diagnosis and recommendation of Dr Patel. I will also be hosting hydrotherapy sessions at Mumbai and Bangalore soon,” said Upadhyay, who recently returned from a similar session in Chennai.

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Infants' Inattentiveness Might Signal Later Autism

 Attention problems might be seen in 6-month-old infants who 

are later diagnosed with autism according to a new study .

Researchers found that the infants who paid less attention to 

people's overtures and activities than infants who did not 

develop autism.

This information could be used to identify infants at greatest 

risk of developing autism and provide them with early 

treatment, the researchers said.

This work is highly consequential for identifying new treatment 

targets and early intervention strategies.

The study included 67 infants at high risk for developing autism 

and 50 low-risk infants. Their eye movements were tracked 

while they watched a video of a woman doing everyday things, 

such as making a sandwich, looking at toys, or speaking.

Compared to the other infants, those who were later diagnosed 

with autism spent less time watching the social activities 

depicted in the video. When they did pay attention, these 

infants spent less time watching the woman's face.

Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by 

impaired communication and social interactions. The 

researchers said this is the first study to show that early signs 

of autism are present in the first year of life.

The researchers are now trying to determine the specific 

causes behind this lack of attention to social activities in infants 

later diagnosed with autism.

What doctors say without talking ?

Teaching good communication skills has been mandatory for medical schools because of research showing that good patient-doctor communication can lead to improved patient satisfaction and better health care outcomes. To this end, medical educators have developed a host of communication courses and workshops that combine lectures, self-assessments, video recordings and “standardised patients,” or actors in the role of patients.

More recently, many schools have broadened their courses to include “cultural competency,” or the ability to communicate with those from different racial, ethnic and social backgrounds. Studies have shown that while a patient’s race and ethnicity can be linked to sharply different treatment courses and quality, better communication between doctors and patients of different backgrounds can reduce the disparities.

Despite these efforts, there is one area of communication to which few schools have devoted significant time: body language and facial expressions.

Now, a small but growing body of research is revealing that the non-verbal component of the patient-doctor interaction — the subtle gestures, body positions, eye contact, touch and expressions that pass between individuals — is as critical a part of communication as verbal expressions. And non-verbal cues may, in fact, be more reflective of the biases faced by doctors and patients.

In a recent study, medical sociologists analysed the interactions between 30 primary care doctors and more than 200 patients over age 65, and found that white physicians tended to treat older patients similarly, regardless of race. Black physicians, on the other hand, often gave white patients contradictory signals, mixing positive non-verbal behaviours, like prolonged smiling or eye contact, with negative ones, like creating physical barriers by crossing the arms or legs.

The finding was reminiscent of earlier studies on interactions between female doctors and male patients, in which the doctors tended to give the patients conflicting non-verbal cues, combining, for example, smiles with a negative or anxious tone of voice. These mixed signals,   are a result of dealing with “a status in our society that is devalued.” Rather than being expressed explicitly, biases regarding race and gender tend to be expressed “in behaviours not consciously controlled.

Some doctors believe that greater emphasis on non-verbal communication can help medical educators address some social biases that affect patient care. But they acknowledge that the process is challenging. Research in this area is still relatively sparse, and few medical educators are well-versed in this topic. Moreover, even experts are unsure of how researchers and educators can measure the nuances and complexities of non-verbal communication accurately, consistently and efficiently.

Teaching autistic kids to talk can help

Teaching autistic kids to talk can help

Teaching children with autism to ‘talk things through’ in their heads may help them solve tricky day-to-day tasks & cold increase the chances of them living independent lives when they grow up, British scientists have said. Psychologists who studied adults with autism found that the mechanism for using ‘inner speech’, or talking things through in your head is intact, but they don’t always use it in the same way as typically developing people do. The results suggest teaching autistic children how to develop inner speech skills may help them cope with daily tasks later in life. It also suggests children with autism may do better at school if they’re encouraged to learn their daily timetable verbally rather than using visual plans, which is currently a common approach. Among core features of autism are poor communication skills & difficulty with social

engagement.

Teaching autistic kids to talk can help

Teaching children with autism to ‘talk things through’ in their heads may help them solve tricky day-to-day tasks & cold increase the chances of them living independent lives when they grow up, British scientists have said. Psychologists who studied adults with autism found that the mechanism for using ‘inner speech’, or talking things through in your head is intact, but they don’t always use it in the same way as typically developing people do. The results suggest teaching autistic children how to develop inner speech skills may help them cope with daily tasks later in life. It also suggests children with autism may do better at school if they’re encouraged to learn their daily timetable verbally rather than using visual plans, which is currently a common approach. Among core features of autism are poor communication skills & difficulty with social

engagement.