Abstract
Timely assessment of acetaminophen concentration in overdose situations is not always available in resource-poor settings. The 150 mg/kg dose-estimate for acetaminophen is widely considered as criterion for acetaminophen overdose. Its sensitivity and specificity when compared to the 150 mg/L treatment line on the Rumack-Matthew Nomogram (150-treatment line) has rarely been evaluated. This is a retrospective chart review of acute acetaminophen overdose patients. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the 150, 200 mg/kg and 8- and 10-g dose-estimates by plotting the serum acetaminophen levels and using 150-treatment line on the Nomogram as the treatment cut-off. A comparison of medical care costs was performed. We enrolled 784 cases for analysis. Median (IQR) age was 23 (20-28) years (81.9% female). There were 545 cases (69.5%) where the estimated ingested acetaminophen dose were ≥150 mg/kg and 406 cases (51.8%) with concentrations ≥150-treatment line. Hepatotoxicity and acute liver injury (ALI) occurred in 7.3% and 23.9%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of 150 mg/kg dose-estimate for the 150-treatment line were 92.6% (95% CI 89.6, 94.8) and 55.3% (95% CI 50.3, 60.2). Among patients with dose-estimate below150 mg/kg, none developed hepatotoxicity and 17 (7.1%) develop ALI. The administration of activated charcoal significantly decreased the risk of being above the 150-treatment line by half. In resource-poor setings, the use of 150 mg/kg dose-estimate as a stand-alone criteria for initiation of N-acetylcysteine therapy is satisfactory, especially when combined with decontamination with activated charcoal and follow up of aminotransferase at 24 h.