[Salicylic acid poisoning].

The study analyses the role of salicylic acid (SA) in fatal intoxications with special reference to potentially avoidable, accidental poisonings. The study indicates a relation between SA intoxication and the presence of an infection of the respiratory tract. All deaths in Denmark in the period 1980 through 1989 registered as caused by SA were analysed as were all deaths submitted to forensic toxicological examination in a defined region of Denmark in the years 1985 through 1989. During the decade 1980 through 1989 the number of fatal intoxications due to SA increased from approx. five per year to approx. 23 per year. During the same period the sales of SA decreased. Many deaths in the material were registered as accidental, and an increasing frequency of accidental deaths was seen with a lower social level. Frequently, an infection of the respiratory tract was either indicated in a hospital case record or a police report, or found at autopsy.