SYSTEMATIC REVIEW published: 07 May 2021 doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.657397 Focus on Over-the-Counter Drugs’ Misuse: A Systematic Review on Antihistamines, Cough Medicines, and Decongestants Fabrizio Schifano 1, Stefania Chiappini 1,2*, Andrea Miuli 2, Alessio Mosca 2, Maria Chiara Santovito 2, John M. Corkery 1, Amira Guirguis 3, Mauro Pettorruso 2, Massimo Di Giannantonio 2 and Giovanni Martinotti 2 1 Psychopharmacology, Drug Misuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances Research Unit, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom, 2 Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. D’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy, 3 Swansea University Medical School, Institute of Life Sciences 2, Swansea Edited by: University, Swansea, United Kingdom Nicolas Simon, Aix Marseille Université, France Background: Over the past 20 years or so, the drug misuse scenario has seen the Reviewed by: Nicolas Franchitto, emergence of both prescription-only and over-the-counter (OTC) medications being Université Toulouse III Paul reported as ingested for recreational purposes. OTC drugs such as antihistamines, Sabatier, France Oussama Kebir, cough/cold medications, and decongestants are reportedly the most popular in being Institut National de la Santé et de la diverted and misused. Recherche Médicale (INSERM), France Objective: While the current related knowledge is limited, the aim here was to *Correspondence: examine the published clinical data on OTC misuse, focusing on antihistamines Stefania Chiappini (e.g., diphenhydramine, promethazine, chlorpheniramine, and dimenhydrinate),
[email protected] dextromethorphan (DXM)- and codeine-based cough medicines, and the nasal Specialty section: decongestant pseudoephedrine. This article was submitted to Methods: A systematic literature review was carried out with the help of Scopus, Addictive Disorders, a section of the journal Web of Science databases, and the related gray literature.