Five‐year trends in Acetaminophen use exceeding the recommended daily maximum dose

Abstract

Temporal patterns of acetaminophen use exceeding the recommended daily maximum 4‐gram dose over a 5‐year period (4/1/2011‐3/31/2016) were evaluated in an online 1‐week diary study of 14,434 adult acetaminophen users who also reported acetaminophen use in the previous month. Specific medications taken were identified by list‐based prompting; respondents were not required to know their medications contained acetaminophen. Details of use were recorded daily; total daily dosage was determined programmatically. Prevalence of >4 gram use over time was modeled, and tested for linear changes. The overall prevalence of >4 gram use (6.3% of users and 3.7% of usage days) did not change over the 5 years: OR persons, 1.02 (95% CI, 0.98‐1.09); OR days, 0.98 (0.92‐1.05). Deviations from label directions were largely unchanged, though concomitant use increased slightly. Thus, over a recent 5‐year period, there was no evidence of change in how often acetaminophen use exceeded the labeled maximum daily dose.

http://bit.ly/2Sp6wV6