Does regular use of paracetamol cause asthma?

The findings of a multi-centre study involving 1,028 participants across Europe suggested that using paracetamol at least once a week increases the risk of asthma.

Half of the participants were recruited as cases of self-reported diagnosis of asthma and half were healthy volunteers with no diagnosis of asthma as control. They found that cases were about 2.5 - 2.9 times more likely to have taken paracetamol regularly than controls but they did not find any association between use of other painkillers and asthma. The researchers said "there is now a need to carry out suitable intervention studies to determine whether the link is causal".

Critics say there are problems with this study - eg a case-control study cannot prove causation and cannot rule out that asthma causes people to take more painkillers. It was suggested that a randomised controlled study of healthy participants to paracetamol or not will produce more conclusive results.

Source: "The relation between paracetamol use and asthma: a GA2LEN European case-control study". European Respiratory Journal 2008; Published online before print June 25

Paracetamol as the first line of care for acute low back pain

Australian researchers warn in a study published in The Lancet that diclofenac and/or spinal manipulative therapy do not work for acute lower back pain patients, but paracetamol and keeping active are the best cures.

Source : "Assessment of diclofenac or spinal manipulative therapy, or both, in addition to recommended first-line treatment for acute low back pain: a randomised controlled trial" The Lancet, Volume 370, Issue 9599, p 1638-1643.