Severity of overdose after restriction of paracetamol availability: retrospective study

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Abstract
Paracetamol overdose is the commonest cause of intentional self harm in the United Kingdom, accounting for approximately 70 000 cases per year.1 It is the commonest cause of acute liver failure,1 although this is rare in adults if doses of <12 g are ingested.2 To reduce this major health problem the government introduced legislation in September 1998 to limit the number of tablets in a single packet to 32 for packets sold in pharmacies and 16 in non-pharmacy outlets.3 This study assesses the impact of reduced availability of paracetamol on the number and severity of overdoses by comparing self poisoning cases in two periods of six months before and after the change to smaller packets. Patients presenting with acute self poisoning to five general hospitals in the Belfast area during the months …