Overview
- Researchers found a roughly 10% decline in emergency‑department acetaminophen orders for pregnant patients after the Sept. 22, 2025 White House briefing, with a peak weekly drop near 20% and no comparable change in nonpregnant patients.
- New outpatient leucovorin prescriptions for children rose about 71% over the study window, with early spikes that more than doubled expected levels and prescriptions remaining elevated through early December.
- The study drew on Epic’s Cosmos and other large EHR aggregates, analyzing 88,857 pregnant ED visits and 853,216 nonpregnant visits, but it could not assess over‑the‑counter use or distinguish patient refusal from clinician choice.
- By early December, ED acetaminophen orders trended back toward baseline while leucovorin prescribing stayed high, a shift that coincided with reported supply delays and shortages late in 2025.
- Medical organizations and recent reviews report no causal link between prenatal acetaminophen and autism, warn of risks from untreated fever in pregnancy, and note limited, mixed evidence for leucovorin; HHS defended the administration’s messaging.