Abstract
Acetaminophen is the most involved active substance in both unintentional and intentional drug poisoning. However, its availability outside community pharmacies is being debated in France. We made, via a self-administered questionnaire, a prospective assessment of knowledge, use and acetaminophen overdose risk in patients consulting their general practitioner, in the Metz Métropole urban area, between May2015and February2016. We estimated the prevalence of potential unintentional overdosage by capture-recapture method. Among 819responding patients, only 17.9% had a sufficient knowledge and 20.3% were at risk for potential unintentional overdose. The risk was higher for patients aged over 55years or belonging to socioprofessional categories of laborers and inactive. A good knowledge score was a protective factor for overdose risk (P<0.0001). The liver toxicity of acetaminophen was particularly unknown. The prevalence of potential unintentional acetaminophen overdose was estimated at 1to2% of the population. Proposing acetaminophen outside of pharmacies cannot be recommended in France in such conditions. Information campaigns are needed to limit the risk of unintentional overdose and its consequences on liver toxicity.
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