Volume 25, Issue 116, October 2021

Prevalence and association of self-medication on patient health in Medina

Muhammad A Tobaiqi¹, Khalid W Mahrous², Abdullah M Batoot², Saad A Alharbi², Abdulwahab M Batoot², Ahmed M Alharbi², Omar A Ghanem²

¹Assistant professor in family medicine and community, Taibah University, Taibah college of medicine, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
²Student, Taibah University, Taibah College of medicine, Madinah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Self-medication is defined as using drugs without doctor prescription, whether it is modern or traditional treatment through different sources that allowed them to take these medications individually. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers self-medication as a serious problem. This study aimed to explore the prevalence and the association of self-medication among the population in Medina. The study also aimed to know the resources, reasons, knowledge, and other aspects of self-medication. Methods: This is a community-based cross-sectional study has been conducted in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The duration of study was one year. The sample includes 281participants. An online questionnaire has been designed to reach the research goals. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0 has been used to analyze the collected data. The research used texts, tables, and graphs to present the statistical data. Results: The study showed that (58%) of the participants practiced self-medication. The most common reasons for using self-medications are having an old recipe (33.1%), or to save time (33.1%). The most common symptom for using self-medication is headache (70.6%). The most used medicine in self-medication is analgesics (42.9%). Most of the participants received information about the medicines from the drug leaflet (45.4%). Conclusion: Self-medication is a serious problem. The prevalence of self-medication is less in this study comparing to other studies around the world. More attention and protocols may help to reduce the prevalence.

Keywords: Self-medication, Prevalence, Medina, Antibiotics, COVID-19

Medical Science, 2021, 25(116), 2685-2697

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