Paracetamol-asthma link in kids found

Photo / The Aucklander

Results from an international study suggest the increasing use of paracetamol by children may have contributed to the rising prevalence of childhood asthma.

But an expert said today the findings didn't constitute a reason to stop using the drug in childhood.

Professor Innes Asher, Auckland-based chairman of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) committee, said in a statement paracetamol was still the preferred drug to relieve pain and fever in children and should be used in preference to aspirin, and drugs like ibuprofen, because of its safety profile.

However, ISAAC's finding suggested paracetamol's frequent use should be avoided where possible.

ISAAC is a unique New Zealand-led international epidemiological research programme established in 1991 to investigate asthma, rhinitis and eczema in children because of concern that these conditions were increasing in western and developing countries.

It has become the largest worldwide collaborative research project ever done, involving more than 100 countries and 2 million children.

It aims to develop environmental measures and disease-monitoring to form the basis for future interventions to reduce the burden of allergic and non-allergic diseases, especially in children in developing countries.

ISAAC's study involved more than 320,000 early teenagers from 113 centres in 50 countries.

- NZPA