Volume 26, Issue 130, December 2022

Awareness of paracetamol overuse headache among Saudi's population in Taif city, Saudi Arabia

Lotfi Fahmi Issa^1,2, Waad Mohammmed Al Qurashi³, Amani Hassan Alrumaym³, Ethar Khalid Alharthi³, Nouf Mohammed Alshamraniy³, Nawal Dhaif Allah Alzahrani³, Hanun Mohammed Aljuaid³

¹Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia
²Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt
³Medical intern, Taif University, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Medication overuse headache has been identified as a significant issue among headache patients which can be caused mostly by overuse of mild analgesics, such as paracetamol. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate and assess the awareness of paracetamol overuse headache among Saudi's population in Taif City-Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. An electronic questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS program version 22. Results: In our study 44% of participants have experienced chronic headache, most of them have it less than five days/ month and 90% of them reported using paracetamol to relieve the headache. Moreover, knowing the maximum permitted daily dose of paracetamol was only recognized by 135 (35%) of participants. whether paracetamol overuse can cause headache was affirmed in 54 (14%) of participants. 42.3% only of the participants are aware of the side effects. The chronic headache was listed as the third most common side effect. The possibility that overdoses of paracetamol can because headache was proven to be statistically significant correlated with age range (18-24 years), with the knowledge concerning taking paracetamol every day and knowing the maximum daily dose of paracetamol, knowledge regarding all side effects. All these listed factors are statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed a limited level of knowledge and awareness regarding headache induced by paracetamol overdose among participants from Taif City in Saudi Arabia, which highlighted the need to increase the awareness in our community

Keywords: Medication overuse, acetaminophen, overuse headache, paracetamol, over the counter, analgesics

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms551e2610

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i130/ms551e2610

Published: 21 December 2022