Background: Individual case reports describe trazodone overdose resulting in QTc prolongation and cardiac arrhythmias. The clinical effects and outcomes associated with trazodone exposures on a large-scale basis are less well known.
Objective: The primary objective was to characterize the severity of single substance trazodone exposures and identify any relationships that may exist between dose of trazodone and severity of exposure. The secondary objective was to describe these exposures from a demographic and clinical symptom standpoint.
Methods: A retrospective review of single-substance trazodone exposures reported to the National Poison Data System (NPDS) from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2019 was performed. The primary objective was to characterize the severity of trazodone exposures and relationships between ingested dose and level of care required or medical outcome.
Results: A total of 118,773 cases were included in the analysis of demographics and level of care required. A majority (59.5%) of cases did not require medical admission. Of the 81,698 cases with known medical outcomes, the most common clinical effects included mild-moderate CNS depression (49.7%), QTc prolongation (12.2% of cases in 2019), vomiting (9.0%), hypotension (7.0%), and tachycardia (7.0%). The median ingested dose associated with treatment, and release from the emergency department was 600 mg compared to 1500 mg in those admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Regarding medical outcome, median ingested dose ranged from 600 mg in those experiencing no effect to 1500 mg in those experiencing major effects. Cardiac-related clinical effects and the need for cardiac-specific interventions were overall infrequent. A dose-response relationship was identified for level of care and medical outcome.
Conclusions: Many trazodone exposures can be characterized as low severity due to the infrequent need for healthcare facility admission and large proportion of cases that experienced no effects or only minor effects.
Keywords: CNS/psychological; National poison data system; cardiovascular; sleep aid.