Effect of Withdrawal of Co-Proxamol on Prescribing and Deaths From Drug Poisoning in England and Wales: Time Series Analysis

This study assessed the effect of the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines’ announcement in January 2005 of withdrawal of co-proxamol on analgesic prescribing & poisoning mortality. An interrupted time series analysis for 1998-2007 was done. A steep reduction in prescribing of co-proxamol occurred in the post-intervention period, 2005-2007, such that the number of prescriptions fell by an average of 859 thousand per quarter. Prescribing of some other analgesics increased significantly during this time. These changes were associated with a major reduction in deaths involving co-proxamol compared with the expected number of deaths (an estimated 295 fewer suicides & 349 fewer deaths, including accidental poisonings). (26 refs.)