TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Restriction of non-opioid analgesics sold over-the-counter in Denmark: a national study of impact on poisonings
JO  - Journal of affective disorders
A1  - Morthorst, Britt Reuter
A1  - Erlangsen, Annette
A1  - Chaine, Manon
A1  - Eriksson, Frank
A1  - Hawton, Keith
A1  - Dalhoff, Kim
A1  - Nordentoft, Merete
SP  - 61
EP  - 68
VL  - 268
IS  - 
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Self-poisoning with non-opioid analgesics presents a growing challenge to health care providers. We aimed to assess the impact of an 18-year age restriction of OTC sales and a pack size restriction of non-opioid analgesics sold OTC in pharmacies on hospital-treated poisonings and poisoning severity measured using biomarkers. <br><br>METHODS: We applied a before and after design using interrupted time series analysis. Data on all poisonings recorded as hospital admissions were obtained during 2002-2015 and biochemical parameters from laboratory databases during 2011-2015, both covering the entire Danish population. <br><br>RESULTS: The age restriction was followed by a 17% level reduction in admissions for non-opioid analgesic poisoning among young people age 10-17 years (RR 0.830; 95% CI 0.697-0.988; p < 0.036). After the pack size restriction, an instant level reduction of 18.5% (RR 0.815; 95% CI 0.729-0.912; p < 0.001) was observed for the entire population. A 27% decrease in the number of poisonings with alanine transaminase levels (ALT) ≥ 210 U/L was observed (RR 0.734; 95% CI 0.579-0.931; p = 0.011) followed by 40% decrease in biomarkers indicative of liver failure (RR 0.597; 95% CI 0.421-0.847; p = 0.004). We also observed similar reductions for other poisonings such as psychotropics. LIMITATIONS: Although declines in poisonings were observed after implementation of means restrictive measures, a causal link cannot be inferred. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Age and pack size restriction were assiociated with a reduction in the numbers of poisonings. This was also observed for pharmaceutical poisonings in general, which might suggest a non-specific or spill-over effect.<br><br>Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0165-0327
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.02.043
ID  - ref1
ER  -