Background and Purpose

Characterization of emergency department (ED) visits for acute harms related to use of over-the-counter cough and cold medications (CCMs) by patient demographics, intent of CCM use, concurrent substance use, and clinical manifestations can help guide prevention of medication harms.

Methods

Public health surveillance data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System−Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project were used to estimate numbers and population rates of ED visits from 2017-2019.

Results

Based on 1,396 surveillance cases, there were an estimated 26,735 (95% CI, 21,679-31,791) US ED visits for CCM-related harms annually, accounting for 1.3% (95% CI, 1.2%-1.5%) of all ED visits for medication adverse events. Three fifths (61.4%, 95% CI, 55.6%-67.2%) of these visits were attributed to non-therapeutic CCM use (nonmedical use, self-harm, unsupervised pediatric exposures). Most visits by children aged <4 years (74.0%, 95% CI, 59.7%-88.3%) were for unsupervised CCM exposures. Proportion hospitalized was higher for visits for self-harm (76.5%, 95% CI, 68.9%-84.2%) than for visits for nonmedical use (30.3%, 95% CI, 21.1%-39.6%) and therapeutic use (8.8%, 95% CI, 5.9%-11.8%). Overall, estimated population rates of ED visits for CCM-related harms were higher for patients aged 12-34 years (16.5 per 100,000, 95% CI, 13.0-20.0) compared with patients aged <12 years (5.1 per 100,000, 95% CI, 3.6-6.5) and ≥35 years (4.3 per 100,000, 95% CI, 3.4-5.1). Concurrent use of other medications, illicit drugs, or alcohol was frequent in ED visits for nonmedical use (61.3%) and self-harm (75.9%).

Conclusions

Continued national surveillance of CCM-related harms can assess progress toward safer use.