Impact of Amending the Acetylcysteine Marketing Authorisation on Treatment of Paracetamol Overdose

Table 3

Duration of hospital episode from Emergency Department attendance to discharge, presented in hours as median (interquartile range).

Clinical management	Sept. 2011–Aug. 2012	Sept. 2012–Apr. 2013
Paracetamol level not checked and antidote not administered	𝑛=34 (7.0%); 3.0 (2.0–3.5)	𝑛=24 (7.9%); 2.4 (1.8–3.6)
Paracetamol level checked but antidote not administered	𝑛=281 (58.2%); 7.1 (4.0–20.8)	𝑛=136 (45.0%); 8.6 (4.2–22.3)
Acetylcysteine administered	𝑛=168 (34.8%); 42.4 (28.8–63.6)	𝑛=142 (47.0%); 43.1 (29.7–67.0)
Total	𝑛=483; 15.4 (4.6–40.1)	𝑛=302; 23.8 (5.6–44.9)^†

^†𝑃=0.0159 versus earlier time period by Mann Whitney test.