Figure 3: Annual National Estimates of Emergency Department (ED) Visits for Over-the-Counter (OTC) Cough and Cold Medication (CCM)-related Harms, by Concurrent Substances, 2017-2019.

Abbreviations: CCM = cough and cold medication; ED = emergency department; OTC = over-the-counter. Estimates of ED visits for medication harms are from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nonmedical use includes abuse (clinician diagnosis of abuse or documentation of recreational use), misuse (using medication for symptom relief, but not using medication as directed), and overdoses without documentation of therapeutic intent, misuse, abuse, or self-harm. Illicit drugs include specified illicit substances (e.g., heroin, cocaine), as well as unspecified opioids and unspecified amphetamines (e.g., documentation of opioid ingestion, but unclear whether prescription opioids or illicit opioids were taken). The estimated number of ED visits for harms attributed to therapeutic CCM use involving illicit drugs or alcohol (+/− other medications) is based on <20 cases and is therefore considered statistically unstable. ED visits for unsupervised pediatric CCM exposures are not shown (1,164 estimated visits annually).