The association between paracetamol use and the risk of asthma, rhinitis and eczema in the Polish population

Abstract

The use of paracetamol in the last 12 months was associated with a significant dose-dependent increase in the risk of rhinitis and skin allergy symptoms, as demonstrated by the odds ratio. Therefore, frequent paracetamol use may be a risk factor for symptoms of asthma, rhinitis, and skin allergy in the Polish population.

Cumulative Evidence for Association of Acetaminophen Exposure and Allergic Rhinitis

“…For acetaminophen exposure in the past year, the meta-analysis of 20 estimates from 9 studies [13,14,16,17,26,29,30,33,34] (581,072 participants) showed significant associations between acetaminophen exposure and allergic rhinitis (OR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.48-2.04) ( Fig. 2; Table 2).…”

“…One case-control study [30] resulted in a pooled OR of 2.73 (1.65-4.53), whereas 8 cross-sectional studies [13,14,16,17,26,29,33,34] had a pooled OR of 1.63 (1.37-1.93) (χ 2 = 3.61; p = 0.06; I 2 = 72.3%). Three high-quality studies [13,14,33] had a pooled OR of 1.79 (1.32-2.42), whereas 6 moderate-quality studies [16,17,26,29,30,34] resulted in a pooled OR of 1.71 (1.42-2.05) (χ 2 = 0.07; p = 0.80; I 2 = 0). The test for subgroup differences with adjustment for confounding factors showed significant differences (χ 2 = 11.92; p = 0.0006; I 2 = 91.6%).…”

“…The 17 articles [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], including a total of 870,492 participants, were published from 2000 to 2018. Among the 18 studies included in the 17 articles, 5 were cohort studies [18][19][20]28], 2 were case-control studies [15,30], and 11 were cross-sectional studies [13,14,16,17,26,27,29,[31][32][33][34]. Six studies were conducted in Europe [15,17,20,27,32,34], 5 studies in Asia [18,29,31,33], 2 studies in Africa [16,28], 2 studies in Oceania [19,26], 1 study in South America…”

“…Among the 18 studies included in the 17 articles, 5 were cohort studies [18][19][20]28], 2 were case-control studies [15,30], and 11 were cross-sectional studies [13,14,16,17,26,27,29,[31][32][33][34]. Six studies were conducted in Europe [15,17,20,27,32,34], 5 studies in Asia [18,29,31,33], 2 studies in Africa [16,28], 2 studies in Oceania [19,26], 1 study in South America [30], and 2 were multicountry studies [13,14]. Of the included studies, 6 were assessed as high quality [13,14,18,20,33] and 12 as moderate quality [15-17, 19, 26-32, 34].…”

“…The test for subgroup differences by exposure frequency indicated a significant difference between once per month and once per year (χ 2 = 13.53; p = 0.001; I 2 = 85.2%). People who were exposed to acetaminophen once per month in the past year [13,14,16,26,29,30,34] (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.60-2.26) had a greater risk for allergic rhinitis compared with those who were exposed once per year [13,14,17,33,34] (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.11-1.48).…”