• Santiago Garcia, Mariana Canoniero, Gilberto Lopes, and Andrés Omar Soriano.
• Department of Medicine, University of Miami Leonard Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA. Agarcia7@med.miami.edu
• South. Med. J. 2006 Sep 1; 99 (9): 924-6.

BackgroundMetamizole (dipyrone) is a myelotoxic, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent that has been banned from the US market since 1979. However, dipyrone may be purchased in some areas of the US. We conducted a survey in a primary care setting in Miami, Florida to determine the prevalence of metamizole possession and use among Hispanics living in this area.MethodsParticipants consisted of 137 Hispanic outpatients interviewed consecutively during a primary care visit in the month of February 2005.ResultsMetamizole was possessed by 28% of the surveyed population. The most common reasons for using dipyrone were pain (72%) and fever (24%). The vast majority of patients had purchased the medication in Latin America (95%), in most instances without a prescription (95%). Nineteen patients (13%) had used the medication during the previous year.ConclusionsMetamizole is available to Latino immigrants who reside in the US, despite the FDA ban imposed in 1977.

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