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Paracetamol and risk factors in Newcastle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alasdair J. Macdonald*
Affiliation:
UK; email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Columns
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an open-access article published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2016

Restrictions on easy access to paracetamol have reduced death from paracetamol overdose in the UK. However, figures from Newcastle show that hanging and jumping deaths have become more common. Reference Linsley, Schapira, Schapira and Lister1 Since paracetamol overdoses are usually not instantly fatal, second thoughts are possible. This is not the case with hanging and jumping. Is this an unintended consequence of paracetamol restrictions? Treating paracetamol overdose is expensive for the National Health Service but surely it is a worthwhile expenditure. Does this make a case for easing restrictions on access to paracetamol?

References

1 Linsley, KR, Schapira, MA, Schapira, K, Lister, C. Changes in risk factors for young male suicide in Newcastle upon Tyne, 1961–2009. BJPsych Bull 2016; 40: 136141.Google Scholar
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