Attention deficit disorders

Prenatal exposure to acetaminophen associated with ADHD and autism

An epidemiological study of more than 70,000 children in six European cohorts has linked symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum conditions (ASC) to the mothers' use of paracetamol ...

Medications

Findings of study comparing analgesics in acute post-trauma pain

The combination of a high-dose NSAID with paracetamol does not increase the analgesic effect compared to paracetamol alone. Researchers also found that paracetamol alone is superior to high-dose NSAID alone for posttraumatic ...

Medications

Paracetamol poisonings up

Paracetamol is a popular source of pain relief. In Switzerland, it is available over the counter in 500 milligram tablets, but also in 1,000 milligram (1 gram) tablets when prescribed by a physician. Researchers at ETH Zurich ...

Obstetrics & gynaecology

How babies may be more vulnerable to medication

New research has found a mechanism that suggests that some fetuses and newborns exposed to paracetamol may experience untoward effects. The experimental approach used is now being applied to other drugs that may be taken ...

page 1 from 6

Paracetamol

Paracetamol INN ( /ˌpærəˈsiːtəmɒl/ or /ˌpærəˈsɛtəmɒl/), or acetaminophen USAN i/əˌsiːtəˈmɪnəfɨn/, is a widely used over-the-counter analgesic (pain reliever) and antipyretic (fever reducer). It is commonly used for the relief of headaches and other minor aches and pains and is a major ingredient in numerous cold and flu remedies. In combination with opioid analgesics, paracetamol can also be used in the management of more severe pain such as post surgical pain and providing palliative care in advanced cancer patients. The onset of analgesia is approximately 11 minutes after oral administration of paracetamol, and its half-life is 1–4 hours.

While generally safe for use at recommended doses (1,000 mg per single dose and up to 3,000 mg per day for adults, up to 2,000 mg per day if drinking alcohol), acute overdoses of paracetamol can cause potentially fatal liver damage and, in rare individuals, a normal dose can do the same; the risk is heightened by alcohol consumption. Paracetamol toxicity is the foremost cause of acute liver failure in the Western world, and accounts for most drug overdoses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

It is the active metabolite of phenacetin, once popular as an analgesic and antipyretic in its own right, but unlike phenacetin and its combinations, paracetamol is not considered to be carcinogenic at therapeutic doses. The words acetaminophen (used in the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Iran) and paracetamol (used elsewhere) both come from chemical names for the compound: para-acetylaminophenol and para-acetylaminophenol. In some contexts, it is simply abbreviated as APAP, for acetyl-para-aminophenol.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA