Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34901318›Full record

ReviewTemperature (Austin, Tex.)2021

Paracetamol (acetaminophen): A familiar drug with an unexplained mechanism of action.

Samir S Ayoub

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Temperature (Austin, Tex.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
58citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
16.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

58 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 175 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. HarnessingFood science & nutrition · 2026
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Gram-Scale Synthesis of Perdeuterated Paracetamol.Journal of labelled compounds & radiopharmaceuticals · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Observational
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. A Microfibrous Extracellular Matrix Platform forACS pharmacology & translational science · 2026
    Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Samir S AyoubSchool of Health, Sport and Bioscience, Medicines Research Group, University of East London, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2696-1785
University of East London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is undoubtedly one of the most widely used drugs worldwide. As an over-the-counter medication, paracetamol is the standard and first-line treatment for fever and acute pain and is believed to remain so for many years to come. Despite being in clinical use for over a century, the precise mechanism of action of this familiar drug remains a mystery. The oldest and most prevailing theory on the mechanism of analgesic and antipyretic actions of paracetamol relates to the inhibition of CNS cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme activities, with conflicting views on the COX isoenzyme/variant targeted by paracetamol and on the nature of the molecular interactions with these enzymes. Paracetamol has been proposed to selectively inhibit COX-2 by working as a reducing agent, despite the fact that

Indexed as

acetaminophencyclooxygenasepainParacetamolthermoregulation

Identifiers

PMID34901318
PMCPMC8654482
OpenAlexW3129333098

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.