[Human Single Drug Exposures to Non-opioid Analgesics Reported to the Poisons Information Centre Erfurt from 2003 to...

Because of their frequency, non-opioid analgesics (NOA) single drug exposures registered by Poisons Information Centre (PIC) Erfurt have been studied over a decade.

A retrospective analysis of frequencies, circumstances of exposure, symptom severity, and age groups in NOA single drug exposures received by the PIC Erfurt from the beginning of 2003 to the end of 2012 was undertaken.

Of all 4749 NOA single drug exposures, the 10 most frequent were caused by paracetamol (n=1 686), ibuprofen (n=1 439), acetylsalicylic acid (n=456), dipyrone (n=274), diclofenac (n=267), flupirtine (n=138), naproxen (n=41), etoricoxib (n=36), indomethacin (n=24), and dexketoprofen (n=19). Paracetamol single drug exposures increased from 158 in 2003 to 216 in 2007 and fell afterwards to 133 in 2012. Ibuprofen single drug exposures continously rose from 57 in 2003 to 258 in 2012. Adults were more often involved in NOA (53.8%) and all single drug exposures (54.1%) than children (45.9% and 45.6%, respectively). Suicidal attempts were more frequent in NOA (43.1%) than in all single drug exposures (34.2%), whereas accidental exposures or exposures in abuse were less often (33.4 and 0.2%, 46.0 and 0.9% respectively). NOA single drug exposures resulted mostly in none to minor symptoms (77.0%) and rarely in moderate (2.1%) or severe symptoms (1.0%). One adult was found dead after probable ingestion of 32 g of acetylsalicylic acid in suicidal intention.

Because many NOA are over-the-counter drugs, it is difficult to obtain data on their use. PIC data could provide information on the NOA use in the population.