When President Donald Trump revealed his administration's long-promised discovery on autism, he ticked off familiar points. He resurfaced worries about vaccines much like he did during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which confused many of the weary public at the time. He said vaccines for newborns and toddlers should be administered "in smaller doses, and you spread it out over a period of years."

But the autism conversation wasn't even about vaccines, despite Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine skeptic background.

RFK Jr. and other Trump administration medical leaders didn't address vaccine safety at all in the Sept. 22 press conference remarks. Instead, they identified Tylenol in pregnant women as a risk for autism and the high-dose prescription drug Leucovorin as a potential treatment. What can people do to navigate these murky waters? And how will this impact your next doctor's visit?

How will this impact your next doctor's, pharmacy visit?

Doctors who care for children and adults with autism as well as obstetricians caring for expecting mothers will be confronted with recommendations from the Trump administration's health team and whether to pass them along to you, the patient.

The Food and Drug Administration will notify doctors that the use of acetaminophen is associated with an increased risk of autism. Acetaminophen, often sold under the brand name Tylenol, has long been considered the safest option for managing headaches, fever and other pain during pregnancy.

The FDA also said it will relabel leucovorin calcium tablets as a treatment for children and adults with cerebral folate deficiency.

Leucovorin, also known as folinic acid, is a folate prescription drug now prescribed to counteract the toxic effects of chemotherapy medications such as methotrexate. It's also used as a treatment for anemia.

The FDA said some people with a folate deficiency have developmental delays with autistic features such as challenges with social communication, sensory processing and repetitive behaviors.

The drugmaker GSK, which makes Wellcovorin, a prescription containing leucovorin calcium, confirmed it will submit an application to the FDA that seeks to add cerebral folate deficiency as a potential new use for the drug. GSK no longer sells the drug, but the label change will allow generic drugmakers to market this medication with the new use, GSK said.

"We have witnessed a tragic four-fold increase in autism over two decades,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said. “Children are suffering and deserve access to potential treatments that have shown promise."

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found 1 in 31 8-year-olds in 2022 had autism. In 2000, 1 in 150 children had autism.

Kennedy has asserted that the Unuted States is in the grip of an "autism epidemic" fueled by "environmental toxins." But decades of research is less clear on what contributes to autism. Many scientists believe genetics, combined with environmental influences, play a role. They also say the rising incidence of autism could be attributed to earlier diagnostics and changes in how we diagnose autism.

People who received a different diagnosis or no diagnosis in prior generations now have an autism diagnosis, said Ari Ne’eman, an assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

What patients can do to educate themselves about autism

Doctors say they expect more patients will ask about vaccine safety, Tylenol safety as well as leucovorin as a potential treatment for autism.

While family doctors want to fully understand the causes of autism, the American Academy of Family Physicians said promoting "myths" about vaccine-autism or acetaminophen-autism links "distracts from research and resources that will benefit people living with autism."

Although Trump warned pregnant women to "fight like hell" to not take Tylenol while pregnant, many medical experts disagreed with this advice.

Marketa Wills, CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association, urged consumers to listen to their doctors and professional medical organizations.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reiterated that acetaminophen is safe for pregnant women. The American Academy of Pediatrics said there's no credible link between childhood vaccines and autism.

Willis also said the FDA's efforts to relabel leucovorin is premature.

"There are early studies that are demonstrating some promise, but we are at least three to five years away from conclusively proving this as a treatment using sound scientific principles," Wills said.

"It's really important that patients talk to their physicians, and that physicians are receiving guidance from the medical professional associations, who, at this time, are standing tall on science," Wills said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What Trump's autism announcement means for your next doctor's visit

Reporting by Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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