According to a new study, those infants who are given paracetamol could suffer allergies and asthma later on in their life.

The study was led by Julian Crane, a Professor at Otago University in Wellington. Its findings appeared in Clinical and Experimental Allergy journal. The researchers looked at paracetamol use for 505 infants and 914 children aged 5-6 years old in Christchurch, who were the participants of the New Zealand Asthma and Allergy Cohort Study.

It was found that 90% of the children who were given paracetamol before the age of 15 months possessed three times the chances of getting affected with allergies and they were two times more likely to contract symptoms of asthma at six years of age, as compared to those who didn't take the pill.

Around 95% of the participants of the study were taking paracetamol by the age of six, which shows that they were at a greater risk of developing asthma symptoms and getting sensitized to allergens.

Crane said, "But more research is needed to clarify this and the benefits of paracetamol use for fever control still outweigh the potential of later allergy development".

He added that there was a need of conducting clinical trials so as to confirm the cause and effect relationship between paracetamol use during infancy and developing allergies or asthma later on in life.