The scientists' findings appear in today's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"This study is the first to prospectively characterize a large number of patients with acute liver failure," said Dr. William M. Lee, professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and the study's principal investigator. "Until recently, only limited data have been available on the causes and outcomes of acute liver failure because of its rarity and a lack of centralized data registry."

Earlier this year, a preliminary report based on the study prompted a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee to recommend stronger warning labels on over-the-counter pain medications and cold-and-cough remedies containing acetaminophen, an analgesic with potency similar to aspirin.

The study found that 39 percent of patients with acute liver failure, a rapidly progressive and frequently fatal disease that annually affects 2,000 people in the United States, were from acetaminophen overdose.

"We observed a much higher frequency of presumed acetaminophen overdose-related hepatotoxicity than previous reports," Lee said. "Unlike in the United Kingdom, more than half of our patients with acetaminophen overdose were believed to have overdosed unintentionally, rather than during a suicide attempt."

Lee said a striking finding of the study was that 73 percent of the patients were women.

"Whether women are innately more susceptible to acute liver failure or are taking more kinds of prescription and nonprescription drugs, and are therefore at a higher risk, remains to be determined," Lee said.

The three-year study looked at 308 patients with acute liver failure from 17 different liver care centers around the country. Lee and his colleagues found th
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Contact: Susan Morrison
Susan.Morrison@UTSouthwestern.edu
214-648-3404
UT Southwestern Medical Center
16-Dec-2002