Abstract
Background: Maternal use of analgesics such as paracetamol, codeine and anti-migraine drugs in pregnancy has been found to be associated with child asthma. Given that these analgesics act in different ways, this suggests that the associations are not causal but may be confounded by indication or other unmeasured factors.
Aim: To investigate the association between analgesic use in pregnancy and childhood asthma by using family design methods to assess confounding.
Methods: The study population included 492, 999 mother-child pairs identified from Swedish registers. Analgesic use during pregnancy was identified from prescription data for codeine, anti-migraine drugs and paracetamol. Child asthma was assessed at 2-6 years from prescription and diagnosis registers. A negative control analysis using paternal use of analgesics during pregnancy assessed the possibility of shared environmental or genetic confounding. A sibling analysis assessed the possibility of confounding specific to the mother.
Results: We confirmed that analgesic use in pregnancy was associated with childhood asthma at all ages (eg 6 years: codeine/ OR 1.39 (95%CI 1.21, 1.59), anti-migraine OR 1.41 (1.02, 1.96), paracetamol OR 1.46 (1.23, 1.72)). Paternal use of analgesics during pregnancy was not associated with childhood asthma. Sibling analysis found no increased risk for asthma in those exposed prenatally to analgesics compared to their non-exposed siblings.
Conclusion: Non-specific analgesic use in pregnancy was associated with childhood asthma. However, the sibling analysis suggested possible confounding by factors specific to the mother, such as indication due to pain or health-seeking behaviors.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2018 52: Suppl. 62, OA3305.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2018