Epidemiology

In the US, poison center data from 2021 reveal that there were 7,609 adult and pediatric single-agent exposures to salicylates.[3]​ Thirty one deaths were attributed primarily to salicylate poisoning.[3]​ From the 1950s through the 1970s, salicylates were the most frequent cause of childhood poisoning-related deaths in the US. However, since then several important changes have nearly eradicated childhood death from salicylate poisoning. This positive decline is attributed to the introduction of child-resistant packaging and smaller bottles of children's aspirin, and to improved critical care.[2] In addition, the recognition of an association between aspirin and Reye syndrome has resulted in avoidance of giving aspirin to children. Salicylate poisoning is one of the most commonly identified causes of poisoning death that could be prevented by improved utilization of available treatment modalities.[4]

In the US, analgesics are the substances most frequently involved overall in human poison exposure and the third most frequently involved substances in children ages 5 years and younger.[3]​​

In the UK, deaths by suicidal overdose of analgesics, including salicylates, were reduced by 22% in the year immediately after the introduction in 1998 of legislation limiting the pack size of analgesics that could be purchased.[5] Nonfatal poisoning with salicylates was also reduced in the second and third years after the legislation was introduced.

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