[Over-the-counter drugs in the inquiries to the Poison Information Centre]

The aim of the study is to assess the occurrence of inquiries to the Poison Information Centre in the years 1998-2002, concerning medical preparations containing active agents included in Act No. 79/1997 on Drugs in the group of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs which can be sold in the Czech Republic in other shops than pharmacies. It deals especially with medical preparations containing paracetamol, ibuprofen, mephenhydramine teoclate, disinfectants with iodine or 10% solutions of quaternary ammonium compounds and 3% solutions of hydrogen peroxide. The attention is focused on the quantitative assessment of inquiries, sex, age of patients, ingested dose, way of intoxication, recommended treatment and prognosis of the intoxication of the patient. The computer programme employed was established for the registrations of the calls to the Poison Information Centre. The highest number of intoxications was seen in the case of pharmaceuticals containing paracetamol and ibuprofen. The inquiries on OTC drugs that can be sold in other shops than pharmacies represent 6.3% of all calls during this five year period. The intoxication in women, suicidal attempts, ingestion of a toxic dose, rather good prognosis and a combination of several drugs predominate in the calls.