UK Legislation on Analgesic Packs: Before and After Study of Long Term Effect on Poisonings

The authors of this study evaluated the long term effect of UK legislation limiting the size of packs of analgesics sold over the counter, based on mortality data for September 1993 to September 2002. They found that suicidal deaths from paracetamol & salicylates were reduced by 22% in the year after the change in legislation, & this reduction persisted in the next 2 years. Numbers of paracetamol & salicylate in non-fatal overdoses were also reduced in the 3 years after legislation. (23 refs)