Researchers say that use of the Danish registers has been invaluable. Among other things in connection with research into specific drugs and the unexpected long-term effects on children whose mothers have taken the drug during pregnancy.

2014.09.18 | Kirsten Olesen

Researchers from Aarhus have recently shown that if pregnant women take painkillers containing the substance paracetamol, which can disturb the hormone balance, their unborn child can possibly have an increased risk of developing ADHD later in life.

The study is one of 300 results from the research project Better Health for Mother and Child, which under the leadership of Professor Jørn Olsen from Aarhus University – and with a population cohort of 100,000 pregnant women and their children – is unique throughout the world.

"American researchers have actually tried to establish a similar project, the National Children Study. It was tremendously ambitious, but they ended up running into a brick wall," says Jørn Olsen.
"Because in contrast to us, where much of the information is simply given to us via the Danish registers, the Americans had to start from the very beginning by collecting data in the USA."

Connects registry data with their own sources

In the study of pregnant women's use of drugs such as Panadol, the researchers from Aarhus have used both existing registers and collected their own information.

"A study like ours can actually only be carried out because we have both the data that the pregnant women have given us about their over the counter purchases, and data from the fantastic national drug prescription register with information on prescriptions that are collected from the pharmacy. Then we have information about ADHD and autism that primarily comes from hospital information and diagnoses from the general national patient registry data," says Jørn Olsen.

"So it is a combination where we use these existing registries and connect them with our own information and interviews. Other countries also have a lot of data about individuals, but we have a unique civil registration number in the Scandinavian countries that means we can connect data."

Unique understanding of disease over time

Since being established in 1997 the Better Health for Mother and Child project has utilised the possibilities presented by the Danish registers to understand disease over time and follow the same people over a period of time. Many diseases need to be really understood in a lifelong process and the researchers believe that there is good evidence that the early phase of life is important.

"We have now seen the significance of the pregnant woman’s intake of paracetamol for the development of ADHD and we have begun to look at autism. And if we find a causal relationship then it is certainly something that has significance. It is also something that we can do something about, as many of the Panadol tablets that are taken by pregnant women are not strictly necessary. They could have done without them," says Jørn Olsen.

At present the children of the mothers that the researchers recruited back then have reached the ages of 11 to15. So until now they have primarily studied diseases in childhood and the early adult period as this is where they have data.

"But as the children of the pregnant women from the original cohort grow older, so too increases the likelihood of us delivering the really important results within the original project goal: To study the relationship between adult diseases and what took place during childhood," says Jørn Olsen.

Facts:

• The research project Better Health for the Mother and Child with a cohort of 100,000 pregnant women and their children will generate more knowledge about how the pregnancy period affects the health of the mother and child. For more information, please see www.bsmb.dk

·         The article "Cetaminophen Use During Pregnancy, Behavioral Problems, and Hyperkinetic Disorders", was published in JAMA Pediatrics in April 2014

 

Further information:

Professor, MD Jørn Olsen
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health
Direct tel: +45 8716 7965
jo@ph.au.dk

 

 

 

 

Yderligere oplysninger:

Professor, dr. med. Jørn Olsen
Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Folkesundhed
Direkte telefon: 8716 7965
jo@ph.au.dk