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Subscribe to RSSAcetaminophen may worsen asthma symptoms in both adults and children, a provocative new report suggests.
The report, which was published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, reviewed recent studies on the medication, which is also marketed as Tylenol. Those studies suggest that the drug may exacerbate asthma in children and adults who already have the condition and could even spark new cases.
Dr. John McBride says he wrote the report because he realized that few of his fellow pediatricians had ever heard of the studies linking acetaminophen with asthma – and therefore most parents hadn’t either.
“I decided … to do what I could to make sure pediatricians and other primary care physicians – as well as my own patients and their parents – realized that there is a possibility that simply avoiding acetaminophen in preference of some other equally effective treatment for fever or pain might make an important difference to a child’s asthma,” said McBride, director of the Robert T. Stone Respiratory Center at the Akron Children’s Hospital.
One of the more worrisome studies McBride cites looked at 520,000 children from 122 centers in 54 countries. In a report on that data published in The Lancet in 2008, researchers found that the risk of developing asthma jumped by 60 percent in 6- to 7-year-olds who had taken acetaminophen at least once a year but less than once a month. In children who took the medication at least once a month, the risk more than tripled.
A second report using the same data was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critial Care Medicine in 2011. That report found that the risk of developing asthma jumped by 40 percent in 13- to 14-year olds who had taken acetaminophen at least once a year but less than once a month. In children of the same age group who took the medication at least once a month, the risk more than doubled. Other studies found acetaminophen associated with an increased risk of asthma in adults.
Asthma experts cautioned that the studies don’t absolutely prove that acetaminophen is the direct cause of asthma or its exacerbation – just that the drug is associated with an increased risk. The association could be due to something else that people who took acetaminophen had in common.
But, experts interviewed by msnbc.com said the studies at the very least underscore the need for parents to be cautious when dispensing any medication, regardless of whether it is sold over the counter.
“I think people get the false idea that because something is sold over the counter that means it is completely safe to use,” said Dr. Fernando Holguin, an assistant professor of medicine in the pulmonary, allergy and critical care division at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “That is not correct.”
Holguin was familiar with the studies cited in the Pediatrics paper. His 4-year-old son suffers from asthma and for that reason, Holguin chose to use ibuprofen rather than acetaminophen when his son is feverish and achy.
The new study reminds us that we always need to be cautious with children.
“With children we need to think twice before giving any medication,” said Dr. Andrea Apter, a specialist in allergy and immunology and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “This [new report] is worrisome. It raises our caution and concern. A prospective randomized controlled trial, if feasible, would be very important because randomization balances all the other factors, known and unknown, that may be related to taking acetaminophen and to having an asthma exacerbation.”
People need to remember that all drugs can have side effects, said Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret, an assistant professor of allergy and immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles. “I always tell my patients that any medicine you don’t need is a bad medicine,” she said.
The new research may prompt more physicians to tell their patients about the possible risks associated with acetaminophen.
“The bottom line,” Holguin said, “is that acetaminophen may not be safe for children with asthma. If a child has asthma and no contraindications to medications like ibuprofen, I’d suggest one of those.”
At least one study that looked at the impact of ibuprofen and acetaminophen in children with asthma found that while acetaminophen appeared to increase airway problems, ibuprofen did not.
Further, McBride points out, “in a double-blind study of acetaminophen versus ibuprofen in asthmatic children with fever that was published in 2002 in Pediatrics, children who were randomized to receive acetaminophen had twice the risk of treatment for an asthma exacerbation compared to the children randomized to ibuprofen.”
Still, Holguin said, “it’s harder to comment on everyone else. You don’t want to altogether block the use of a useful medication.”
Holguin and others interviewed by msnbc.com said they would tell their patients about the studies in the new report, along with the limitations of those studies – and then leave the decision up to the patients themselves.
As for McBride, “my partners and I now recommend that our patients avoid using acetaminophen if at all possible until there is convincing evidence that it is safe.”
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I can't understand how people have come to trust chemists to cobble together unnatural components and then say it's safe to put it in your blood stream. It's enough to give you a headache. Where's the excedrin?
I'm one of those people with this issue. Although I don't normally suffer from asthma - I do smoke, and sometimes have smoking related problems at night/morning. Just a couple years ago in my late 20's I discovered I had this reaction to Tylenol (acetaminophen) during a time when I had a tooth ache.
It was weird at first because I didn't link the two and I never had a problem with it before. I took some and within 15 minutes I started wheezing, coughing, and having trouble breathing. I thought I was getting sick or something. In about an hour it went away. I attributed it to just allergies or smoker's cough or something.
The next day I took some more for the tooth ache, and it happened again - that's when I realized that it was a reaction to the pain pills. It was more severe this time too.
Just to make sure, much later (about a year) - I took some more just to see. And yep - definitely Tylenol giving me basically asthma symptoms. I stay away from the stuff now.
I believe that the reason that there is an increased incidence in asthma for those who use Tylenol, is that I was educated in nursing school (graduated in 1979) that Motrin (Ibuprophen ), and Aspirin (Salycitic Acid) can cause an asthma attack. We were instructed, to use caution in monitoring these patients, or instruct parents that Tylenol would probably be a safer choice. So those with asthma have been told to try Tylenol. It makes sense that there would be an increased correlation between asthma attacks and being on Tylenol.
"I can't understand how people have come to trust chemists to cobble together unnatural components and then say it's safe to put it in your blood stream. It's enough to give you a headache. Where's the excedrin?"
What a truly ignorant statement.
1) Chemists don't just cobble together compounds on a whim. There are reams of pharmacological knowledge and biological research used to develop a new drug. They aren't mad scientists toiling away and concocting questionable potions. They're scientists who us the scientific method to find compounds with desirable properties.
2) Not all of these compounds are unnatural. Aspirin comes from willow bark.
3) Just because a compound is natural doesn't make it safe and not all man-made compounds are dangerous. To assume otherwise is complete naivete. Tetrodotoxin is a natural chemical and one of the most toxic substances on the planet. Injecting less than half a milligram can kill an average-sized person.
Excedrin and other aspirin based products can cause excessive bleeding in some people. I have COPD (a condition including emphysema, asthma, and chronic bronchitis), and I have been using Tylenol (1-500 mg tablet at bedtime 3 or 4 times per week) for 30 years as aspirin products do cause bleeding in certain areas of my body. No noticeable change in my asthma symptoms from the Tylenol. Why do we allow these studies to be published when they are totally non-conclusive. Some doctor or researcher being paid off by the aspirin companies.
@liberalnewssucks: "I can't understand how people have come to trust chemists to cobble together unnatural components and then say it's safe to put it in your blood stream"
you do realize of course that so called "natural" things may not be safe either. For all the "natural product" lovers out there... ARSENIC is natural too, but that doesn't make it healthy.
Now as for Tylenol: this is an interesting article and just goes to show that overuse of APAP just like many other meds isn't a good thing. That doesn't mean that for most otherwise healthy people the occasional use of it is a bad thing. I actually am a pediatrician and can tell you that in my office we try to discourage use of any medicines unless they are needed. I spend most of my day trying to convince families kids don't need an antibiotic, or that an illness will pass on it's own with time. As for use in pregnancy, Tylenol has a pretty good and long track record for safety in appropriate doses. But as usual, the more things a pregnant mom can avoid, the better.
Just taking two Tylenol a day for one year or less either destroyed or permanently damaged ones liver. Its a DEADLY drug.
i took hydrocodone apap(acetaminophen) for 4 years at least for a severe injury, my liver has very little damage, but i developed severe asthma.now i can't run at all or walk even a mile without major problems.advair and proair everyday now, and before all of this i NEVER had a problem.
.
of course taking tylenol every day for a year is gonna cause damage. when you swallow the pills, the cytochrome p-450 system, big in the liver, detoxes the drug and produces around 5ish% of the NAPQI metabolite that'll just keep accumulating as long as you're popping 'em. up the metabolites and your glutathione antioxidant levels drop from latching on to them and your liver is trashed by free radicals.
don't blame the pills when it says "prolonged use may lead to liver damage" on the label.
It seems the appearance of acetaminophen in the 70's coincides with an explosion of asthma in children. It raises questions regarding pregnant mothers use of acetaminophen--is it safe for the baby?
When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's, asthma was rare. By the 90's, it was ubiquitous.
Its rise in use also coincides with the rise in autism.
Approx. 26000 people are hospitalized and 458 die each year from acetaminophen overdoses
And we are worried about illegal drugs? ...
Yet marijuana has NEVER caused a single overdose.
EVERY single manmade drug, can cause overdose, even caffeine!
About 15,000 die each year from illegal drug overdoses. And about 15,000 die from abuses of prescription painkillers. So yep, we can still worry. Tylenol deaths are terrible, but they are, comparatively, a drop in the bucket.
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/PainkillerOverdoses/
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_04.pdf specifically page 20
Caffeine is not manmade.
DRK-1183578--
NO ONE has ever died from an overdose of marijuana. Not one single soul in the entire recorded history of mankind. Find it and I will eat my shoes., with or without salt.
Well, I did find this one case... but I'm pretty sure this isn't real, so your shoes are safe!
http://www.talkingdrugs.org/australian-gamer-dies-of-marijuana-overdose
When I was speaking of illegal drugs, I had in mind heroin and cocaine, actually -- which have killed lots of people.
That said, I think the long term effects of smoking anything are probably not the greatest for your lungs. Tobacco leaves are natural products just like pot, but they are not good for people. Lungs are not supposed to have smoke in them, whether it's pot smoke or tobacco smoke.
But naturally occuring caffeine isn't associated with overdose. It can be synthetically produced, or in some cases extracted and concentrated, then overdose can occur when used in pill form such as no-doz, or overuse of energy drinks, like red bull.
Yo Van Helsing - Asthma was not rare in the 50s and 60s, what planet are you from?
alcohol kills and causes destruction of people and property and it is legal...go figure
Prohibition - Coffee is produced from a naturally grown bean and people CAN overdose from excess consumption of Coffee.
I know the point you are trying to make, but it is incorrect to mislead people to believe that "natural" products have no potential side effects and "un-natural" products do. Such a statement simply isn't true - go check out the side effects of ephedra, citrus aurantium, etc... or as an example St. John's Wart can have very negative interactions with certain prescribed pharmaceuticals...
The real point is that nutritional supplements & pharmacological products do have significant potential side effects and you shouldn't medicate yourself with either without a little education.
As for energy drinks... Well, I can't argue with you on them - I'm not sure what logical person would choose to embibe them - let alone mass consumption...
Your number relationships are incorrect ..."
By 2009, the number of deaths involving prescription drugs was four times the number involving illicit drugs,” the report said. “These findings indicate the need to strengthen interventions aimed at reducing overdose deaths from prescription drugs.”
The number of annual deaths from lethal concentrations of prescription medicines increased 84 percent from 2003 to 2009, while deadly overdoses of illegal drugs fell 21 percent. Deaths from the narcotic painkiller oxycodone and anxiety medicine alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax, more than tripled.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-07/prescription-drugs-cause-more-overdoses-in-u-s-than-heroin-and-cocaine.html
......In other words, the dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths is not driven by illegal drug use in the inner cities; it is being fueled by prescription drug abuse in white, middle-class, rural America."
http://alcoholism.about.com/od/prescription/a/overdose.-Lz6.htm
If you google this phrase from your post, moonbeamracer, it will take you to this CDC report:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6026a1.htm
Which is for mortality rates in Florida, not the US overall. Bloomberg made a mistake.
I will add, my own numbers are extremely approximate. I arrived at them by taking the overall rate of deaths due to drug overdose from 2008-2009 -- 37, 485, according the the CDC, and subtracting the number of deaths due to prescription drugs -- slightly under 15,000 for 2008-2009, again, according to the CDC. (My links are at my 3.4 post, if you care to look). If anything, I have understed the number of deaths due to illegal drug use.
Given that my assertions were made in the context of pointing out that 400 Tylenol-related deaths, while a serious problem, do not mean that deaths due to illegal drugs are not a major concern as well, I stand by my comment.
Shel Rama
I Googled "asthma rates over time" and found an increase in every age group from 1980 through 2006. Even as tobacco smoking decreased beginning in 1975, asthma rates were going up.
I also found this in Wikipedia: "Concerns about paracetamol's [acetaminophen's] safety delayed its widespread acceptance until the 1970s, but in the 1980s paracetamol sales exceeded those of aspirin in many countries, including the United Kingdom."
In the 1980's, the danger to children from aspirin (Reyes Syndrome) drove the market for pain-relievers to Tylenol (acetaminophen). Coincidence, correlation or cause-and-effect?
That is an intriguing hypothesis, Van Helsing. What to do, though. The rates of Reye's Syndrome in the US went from 555 new cases a year in 1980 to 2 in 1994, reflecting the declining use of baby aspirin in children, teens and young adults.
I remember calling one of my kids when he turned 25 and informing him he could now take aspirin ("Gee, thanks....?", was the response ;) ).
That kid has asthma, too. Hope I didn't cause one while preventing the other....
Acetaminophen is especially dangerous because of its effect on the liver, which is responsible for metabolizing drugs. If toxic levels of acetaminophen occur in the liver, the natural antioxidant defenses of the body are overwhelmed, and the liver is damaged by the buildup of dangerous free radicals. It is therefore imperative that people who are taking acetaminophen also take sufficient quantities of antioxidants to help support healthy liver function.
...or, just don't ever take the poison known as Tylenol
Free radicals have long been a problem for both the medical community and the political community as well!
Yes, and Ibuprofen is especially dangerous, because it destroys the kidneys. In fact Ibuprofen is given to people who will go on dialysis to kill off any remaining function of the kidneys. There are side effects to everything and people are too quick to reach for medications when they are not needed.
It would be cool if people, especially journalists, would study basic grammar and stop throwing random apostrophes in for good measure.
Jackie-339437
"The painkiller phenacetin has been taken off the market because of its association with analgesic nephropathy. Recent studies have suggested that longstanding daily use of analgesics such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen may also increase the risk of chronic kidney damage, but this evidence is not as clear." National Kidney & Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse
Ibuprofen is no worse than acetaminophen as to kidney damage. I have never heard of intentionally killing off any remaining kidney function when people go on dialysis. Perhaps you could quote a source for your information.
Acetaminophen overdose is the leading cause of drug induced liver failure. Moderate to heavy drinkers should not take acetaminophen as the alcohol can/will exacerbate the damage caused by the acetaminophen. Since 1998, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States has required a specific warning on labels about acetaminophen. That warning reads: "Alcohol Warning: If you consume 3 or more alcoholic drinks every day, ask your doctor whether you should take acetaminophen or other pain relievers/fever reducers. Acetaminophen may cause liver damage."
Water is dangerous too! If you drink too much water, the fluid outside your brain cells shifts via osmosis into your cells, causing swelling, which causes intracranial pressure.
So don't drink water!
Seriously, water intoxication is possible. The overdose of anything is possible including seemingly harmless substances. So before everybody freaks out and ditches their Tylenol, stop and think.
All the fake things we put in our bodies to make us better..no wonder we are a sickly nation. Acetaminophen is in every cold and flu mixture on the market..a deadly drug and how many take it with a couple of Tylenol not realizing they are double dosing? Add artificial sweetener , things like Splenda, and see how fast new symptoms develop. http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/splenda.asp . Many of the symptoms of aspartame poisoning are painful enough to make us reach for the Tylenol bottle..oops..double health whammy. We really must learn that all these wonder meds and sweeteners and health fads are not a good thing, maybe we need to go back just a bit closer to nature. And just a thought..does it not seem that as a nation, we are fatter since we stopped using sugar and switched to splenda and saccharine?
We could all start getting back to nature by burning less gasoline - gasoline causes obesity, stupidity, thousands of deaths and millions of injuries - but we ACCEPT the slaughter and the mutilation (and even blame the victims of the chemical merchants) as just part of life in a technological society. In a logical world gunpowder & gasoline would be as regulated as any other dangerous or debilitating chemical...
The all things natural are good/all things man-made are bad position is gross naivete. You know what is natural? Small pox, measles, polio, bleeding out, bacterial infections, pneumonia. All of those natural ailments have plagued humans for the bulk of our history on this planet. Fortunately, in the last several decades we have developed "unnatural" remedies that allow people to combat those things. So go ahead and pine for the good ol' all-natural days, and I'll applaud not dying from simple bacterial infections.
Every few years we find something else that had been deemed safe, causing us great harm. Yet, the FDA and government are always telling us how the products they want us to take/use today are safe. I don't trust any of them. The pharmaceutical/chemical companies have too much lobby power. We are poisoning ourselves and just because the "scientific evidence" doesn't show a direct correlation, today, we are much too willing to throw common sense out the window.
Acetaminophen overdose is one the most common causes of OTC drug poisoning in the United States and Britain. More than 30,000 cases per year of acetaminophen overdose are reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers . It is a leading cause of liver failure in the Western world and the leading cause of drug-induced liver failure in the United States . People who use acetaminophen on a regular basis double also their risk of kidney cancer .
Tylenol is a bad drug that has been pushed by hospitals and doctors as a "safer" alternative to aspirin for decades. This couldn't be further from true. Asthma is the least of worries. I never take it and when I need a cold preparation I look for something that does not contain it. As stated in other comments Tylenol has caused more death and injuries than most people know. I know of at least two deaths directly related to it. Both were acute liver failure.
any drug that's non addictive is touted as safe... I don't know why they just can't prescribe the safer narcotic with a good tracking system for moderate pain. Long term use for anything unfortunately is not good.
funny....but we will still trust that same scientific community to tell us we are responsible for the earths climate change, and that our children need lots of meds,, starting now at the age of 4 years, to keep them calm in school......
welll, really... pharmaceutical tech and climatologists.... not really the same field.
Complete logical fallacy - simply because 1 thing may be wrong from an unrelated group, you apply it to making all other groups wrong. Ridiculous.
Say it out loud to yourself and you might see how ridiculous it is. "Some medical professionals felt that Tylenol was safe enough to use in recommended dosages for most people, it's not quite as safe as they thought - so that means climatologists are completely wrong."
Some people...
no moron, it 'means that some people, like you believe whatever the "scientific community",( including climatologists) tells them as truth, and only because it falls in line with your values.
"some people" is right.....
So how do you arrive at truth, troop? Crystal balls?
Personally, I'd rather go with a way of discovering truth that uses data to arrive a conclusions which may subsequently be modified when new data comes in. Science, in other words. It's an imperfect method, but it beats truthiness.
be cautious of one time studies like this.. there is also a link between children with asthma that also cross the street on a daily basis. Causitive variables like this can be very missleading unless varified with controled studies and more research.
This isn't a "one time" study. These associations have been around for over a decade.
It gives me a headache. I tried it to relieve a headache and it made it worse. As a result, I stick to just plain old aspirin (bufferin) when occassionally I have a need.
'Natural' is no more or less safe than 'artificial'. Nature contains some the most violent and deadly chemicals known to exist. There's no "This is perfectly safe" or "This is definitely dangerous" with any of them as pretty much everything sits somewhere in-between these two poles. There's a dosage relationship with the type and weight of a creature that defines how any chemical interacts with the organism. Take lots and it can do damage, take a little and can do good (or rarely the other way around).
If you rely on nature to cure you of everything, you'll die earlier, but a mix of healthy life styles and, when needed, manufactured drugs taken as required you'll live a better and longer life on average. What's important is we keep a track of everything and note when something seems to be dangerous and take steps. This is where the pharmaceutical industry fails. They try and suppress bad data against things that they've invested in to keep up a profit, the science behind it should still be well grounded in trying to find out the truth unless statistically manipulated (as it often is).
When you allow people to make up their own doses, which non-prescribed drugs are self administered, it's hard to monitor the dosage relationship with long term health, this is also a problem.
Finally, a voice of reason. This should be common sense really, but I think that's expecting too much. Sometimes I'm frightened at how incredibly stupid other people are.
I avoid extra-strength Tylenol because of wheezing. The regular strength stuff seems OK, for some reason.
I tried and tried to tell my kids dctors that this was what was causing one of my sons to have asthma. IT ALSO CAUSED SEVERE STOMACH UPSET IN ONE OF MY KIDS. But the Dr said per the studies, it doesn't. Well, when someone vomits every time you give them acetaminophen, even when it's just for the fever from shots, you kind of figure out you really do know more that the doctor. Never happened with asprin. Children's Motrin did not exist yet.
That was a no brainer. I've been an asthmatic my whole life. I've been telling that to my doctor for years and they are just catching on?
Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen destroy much more than pain.
Watch. A new pain killing drug will hit the market soon and be heralded to be "completely safe". Then...if you trace its introduction and prior development, you will find a strong lobbyist linked to a high government official. Just follow the money folks.
Sure looks like a connection here.
I actually surprised Johnson and Johnson or the Pharmaceutical giants didn't have Dr. John McBride assassinated! Well, there's time. I'm sure his "associations" will suffer dearly!
Once again, I appreciate the irony. When you read the statistics about those evil 3rd generation anti-inflammatories and how they increased heart failure in a tiny percentage of people and then see how people won millions of dollars in settlements, it makes me wonder why acetominophen hasn't been removed immediately from the market. I'm not even saying they should, just that in other comparable cases the reaction was dramatic, here there seems to just be a general shrugging of shoulders. Maybe because it is now generic and there is no one specific to sue? Maybe this will cause some prospective studies to be done.
Aspirin
I was on prescription proton pump inhibitors for nearly a decade. I had acid reflux "disease" so bad that without the meds I would get extremely painful esophageal spasms. The first time a spasm happened I was rushed to the hospital to get my heart checked. Two years ago I went on a diet and began to workout regularly. I lost 50 pounds, I also looked on line for an alternative to the medication I was taking for the acid reflux. I began taking a tablespoon of vinegar diluted in 4 ounces of water once or twice a day. The result? No more acid reflux and the last upper GI I had showed that the Barrett's esophagus that I had been walking around with for ten years had miraculously disappeared! Forget big pharma, diet and exercise are what most of us need to cure the majority of what is bothering us health-wise. Get your BMI into normal range and experience the shocking changes for the better in your body. It isn't a miracle, it is simply a matter of commitment to a healthy life and all the benefits that go along with it.
you, sir are nuts
Jeff,
At least you're polite when you cast aspersions. Exercise? Diet? It's crazy to expect people to do it but it is the most effective medicine available. It isn't easy but technology provides tools to help. A digital scale in the bathroom for monitoring weight loss or gain, a digital scale in the kitchen for weighing portions, calorie tracking applications for smart phones, on line resources for caloric information related to the foods we enjoy eating, fitness programs for the X-box and the Wii are all things I employed in my return to a healthy life. No one lives forever but you'll likely live longer and definitely be happier if you're physically fit. I was on three different prescription medications at one time and I take no prescriptions today. My life is significantly improved by not having to deal with some of the adverse effects the prescriptions caused.
I just threw out the bottle of Tylenol I had at my desk. I don't like taking medications anyway.
Don't be too hasty here. There are many asthmatics who are seriously allergic to NSAIDs (Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatories) of which Ibuprofen and Aspirin are key members. So, it trading in the Tylenol for Advil, you maybe putting yourself at serious risk of an asthma attack. I speak from experience! It was my only trip ever to an emergency room for a potentially life-threatening emergency.
Seriously, I am an asthmatic and have been for about 30 years. When I take Ibuprofin or Aspirin, I get a severe allergic reaction and it brings on an asthma attack. I've taken Tylenol for years and have never had the same reaction. It's always something.
This is true for me as well. It kinda sucks, to be honest.
So I hope SilverFox, in the comments above, is right and they are about to come out with a new pain killer. That would be great.
Perhaps after taking Tylenol during your youth, not only did asthma kick in, but an intolerance for NSAIDS, too.
LOL, in my ancientness I actually predate the infant Tylenol thing. I mean, they had the stuff, but frankly aspirin works better. And back then, there was no reason not to give the kid the drug that's more effective -- we didn't know about Reye's. I took St. Joseph's aspirin for children when I was a kid. They were little and orange-flavored and delicious. So much so that I took them long after I should have switched to adult aspirin!
No, I was about 16 when I realized that the reason I kept having asthma attacks at school is that I would occasionally wake up with a headache and take an aspirin. It was not my first occurrence of asthma, I've had it since infancy.
Aspirin sensitivity is not super uncommon for asthmatics, more's the pity. There's a thing called Samter's Triad, that involves asthma, aspirin sensitivity, and nasal polyposis -- I would imagine many of the asthmatics on this board who are allergic to aspirin have it.
None of this, of course, means that infant Tylenol might not be a contributing factor to the increase in the incidence of childhood asthma. Just not in my case.
I've had asthma for years but notice no increased symptoms when I take Tylenol, which I take becauae I am allergic to aspirin. Any drug can cause allergic symptoms in some people and not others.