Girls whose mothers used paracetamol during pregnancy had measurably smaller ovaries and uteruses at three months old than unexposed infants, Danish researchers reported this week in the journal Human Reproduction Open. Paracetamol is sold in the United States as acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.
Among 302 infant girls examined at about three months, those exposed in the womb had on average 40% smaller ovarian volume, 13% smaller uterine volume and 23% fewer ovarian follicles, the structures that hold immature eggs. In a small subgroup of 22 girls exposed only in early fetal life, levels of anti-Mullerian hormone, a marker of ovarian egg reserve, were also lower.
