Despite its relatively safe nature and medicinal history that traces back to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates in the 5^th Century B.C., aspirin and other NSAIDs cause up to 15,000 deaths and 100,000 hospitalizations each year. Most famously, perhaps, actor and American martial artist Bruce Lee’s untimely death at the age of 32 was attributed to an acute reaction to the combination drug, Equagesic, which features aspirin as a primary ingredient.

Aspirin overdoses may be intentional or accidental and may be acute – the result of ingesting too much aspirin over a short period of time or chronic – the result of taking too much aspirin over a prolonged period of time. About 5 percent of severe aspirin poisoning cases can result in fatalities, either a result of cardiac arrest or brain damage.

What Causes an Overdose?

Some patients intentionally ingest large amounts of aspirin as an attempt at suicide, either as an outcry or as a deliberate attempt to take one’s life. Other patients deliberately give children large doses of aspirin as an effort to abuse or harm children. These cases are less common than unintentional overdoses, which can happen for many reasons.

Acute Overdoses

Aspirin poisoning used to be the most common cause of accidental poisoning in children – in the days before child-resistant aspirin bottles. Inappropriate dosing in young children or the elderly is also a common cause of aspirin poisoning in the United States. This can be the result of giving a child too large a dose, despite warnings against giving children aspirin. Elderly patients may forget that they’ve taken a dose of aspirin and double up, or a patient inadvertently may take multiple combination medications that contain aspirin. This long-term inappropriate dosing is common in elderly patients who have chronic health problems, according to the New York Times.