Some researchers have raised the possibility of a link between Pitocin — a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin that is widely used to start or assist the progress of childbirth — and later attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.
But a sweeping new study that used the birth records of nearly 550,000 babies born in Denmark between 2000 and 2008 should quell some of those concerns. The study found no association between oxytocin use to move labor along and the development of ADHD.
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Overall, however, the new findings add to a growing body of literature that should allay concerns over a connection between oxytocin use during labor and developmental disorders, including autism. In 2014, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said there was no link between labor induction and augmentation with Pitocin and autism spectrum disorders.
