title: Analgesic abuse and personality characteristics.
abstract: The Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI) was mailed to a group of 880 female industrial workers who were participating in a 5-year prospective study aimed at elucidating eventual renal toxity of phenacetin-containing analgesics. 338 completely filled in test-sheets were returned. The study sample was divided into five sub-groups according to the amount of drug which could be located. 1. Consumers who had a positive test for analgesic-intake in at least one urine sample (paracetamol = N-acetyl-p-aminophenol as principal metabolit of phenacetin),N = 65.2. "High intakers", paracetamol values over 0.499 o.D. (o.D. = optical density in the spectrophotometric determination of paracentamol [total of three tests]), N = 73.3. "Medium intakers", paracetamol values 0.200-0.499 o.D. (total of three tests), N = 25.4. "Low intakers", paracetamol values 0.049-0.199 oD., N = 84.5. "None-consumers" with negative urine tests, N = 199. It was shown that for some personality features, consumers could be distinguished from non-consumers and "high intakers" from "low intakers", but not "low intakers" from non-consumers nor "high intakers" from "medium intakers". The areas contributing mainly to differentiation were general psychosomatic disturbance, irritability tinged with dysphoria, psychosocial and emotional immaturity, and lability. The importance of early registration is consequently demonstrated.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010615:Phenacetin; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
chemical_list: D010615:Phenacetin