Table.

Cases of paracetamol overdose before and after the change to smaller packets (September 1998). Figures are medians (interquartile ranges) unless stated otherwise

	Jan-Jun 1998 (n=590)	Jan-Jun 1999 (n=594)	P value
			Mann- Whitney U test	χ2 test
Estimated quantity of paracetamol ingested (g)	10 (5-18)	8 (5-14)	0.004	–
Serum paracetamol concentration (mg/l) at 4-6 hours	37 (14-80)	27 (6-64)	0.003	–
No (%) of patients admitted to hospital	398 (67.4)	374 (63.2)	–	0.17
No (%) of patients given antidote*	183 (31.1)	149 (25.1)	–	0.03
International normalised ratio at 24-48 hours	1.1 (1.0-1.2)	1.1 (1.0-1.2)	0.50	–
Concentration of liver enzyme† at 24-48 hours (U/l)	23.0 (18-37)	23.5 (19-52)	0.84	–

^*N-acetylcysteine or methionine. 

^†Serum aspartate aminotransferase.