A recent study has documented a significant shift in medication prescriptions following a White House briefing on September 22, 2025, which raised concerns about acetaminophen use during pregnancy and promoted leucovorin as a potential treatment for autism. Researchers from Brown University and Mass General Brigham found that emergency room prescriptions for acetaminophen among pregnant women declined sharply, while prescriptions for leucovorin in children surged.
The study, published in The Lancet, reveals that after the briefing, acetaminophen orders dropped by approximately 10% compared to expected prescribing levels based on prior trends. The decline was even more pronounced in the first month, where it reached 16%, peaking at 20% below expected levels during the third week following the announcement.
In stark contrast, outpatient prescriptions for leucovorin, which is typically used for certain cancer-related conditions, increased dramatically among children aged 5 to 17. Overall, prescriptions soared by around 71% above anticipated levels post-briefing, with a staggering 93% increase in the first month alone. In the second week after the briefing, the rate more than doubled compared to previous predictions.
The study highlights that approximately 72% of the leucovorin prescriptions were for children diagnosed with autism, a group that constitutes only 4% of the pediatric population in the data set analyzed. This notable rise in leucovorin prescriptions raises questions about the influence of high-profile public health communications on clinical decision-making.
Dr. Michael Barnett, a physician and a professor at Brown University, noted that the findings demonstrate the potential for political messaging to sway medical practices. “The White House briefing was an extremely unusual mechanism to communicate medical information and bypassed many standard checks on ensuring accurate messaging,” he stated.
The briefing involved comments from prominent officials, including the president and the head of the Food and Drug Administration, who suggested that acetaminophen use during pregnancy might be linked to an increased risk of autism, while proposing leucovorin as a treatment. Despite leucovorin being studied in small clinical trials for autism with mixed results, it is not currently part of standard autism treatment guidelines.
Researchers utilized data from the Cosmos electronic health record database, which encompasses information from over 1,600 hospitals and 37,000 clinics across the United States. They assessed weekly prescribing trends before and after the briefing, contrasting observed prescribing rates with expected levels based on historical data.
While the study does not definitively establish a causal link between the White House briefing and the changes in prescribing practices, the associations observed are significant. Dr. Jeremy Samuel Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, expressed astonishment at the rapid shift in prescribing patterns. He remarked, “It can take years, even decades, for high-quality research to finally reach clinicians. Here, by using the White House, it was done overnight. Unfortunately, they’re claiming breakthroughs that simply haven’t occurred.”
The implications of this study extend beyond prescription patterns, underscoring the power of public health messaging and its capacity to influence both patient behavior and physician practices. As the medical community continues to navigate these challenges, the findings serve as a reminder of the importance of evidence-based guidelines in clinical decision-making.
