Perceptions and practices of self-medication in healthcare and nonhealthcare university students in South India.
| Autor: | Sharma, Ajitha, Oommen, Shweta, Topno, Isabella, Saya, Rama Prakasha |
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| Předmět: |
CHI-squared test
COLLEGE students CONFIDENCE intervals DRUGS HEALTH occupations students RESEARCH methodology SENSORY perception QUESTIONNAIRES SELF medication STUDENT attitudes LOGISTIC regression analysis DISEASE prevalence CROSS-sectional method HEALTH literacy DATA analysis software DESCRIPTIVE statistics ODDS ratio |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Basic & Clinical Physiology & Pharmacology; 11/1/2015, Vol. 26 Issue 6, p633-640, 8p |
| Abstrakt: | Background: The aim was to study and compare knowledge, attitude and practices regarding self-medication in healthcare and nonhealthcare university students. Methods: Suitably constructed, structured and pretested questionnaires were distributed to 350 students in each group; data were documented in SPSS software version 20.0 and analyzed using χ2-test and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Completed questionnaires only were analyzed, which were 314 and 310 in healthcare and nonhealthcare groups, respectively. The majority of students practiced self-medication (84.4% vs. 68.1%; p < 0.001) with the most common indications being fever (46.4% vs. 37.9%; p < 0.001) and cough and common cold (30.9% vs. 37%; p = 0.004). Most commonly self-medicated drugs were antipyretics (67.9% vs. 52.6%; p = 0.03) and multivitamins (28.7% vs. 16.8%; p < 0.001). A few of them experienced adverse drug reactions due to self-medication (6.8% vs. 1.9%; p < 0.001). Independent risk factors for self-medication were younger age group (OR = 2.93, CI 95% 1.09-7.85), storage of medicines at home (OR = 2.49, CI 95% 1.21-5.12), healthcare students (OR = 2.54, CI 95% 1.72-3.74), higher knowledge scores (OR = 1.65, CI 95% 1.08-2.52), those consuming homeopathic preparations (OR = 9.19, CI 95% 1.24-68.11), multivitamins (OR = 6.7, CI 95% 2.88-15.6) or health supplements (OR = 6, CI 95% 2.15-16.74), participants who strongly agreed that self-medication is a part of self-care (OR = 3.97, CI 95% 1.56-10.09), and those self-medicating with an old prescription for same illness (OR = 0.04, CI 95% 0.01-0.15) or over advice from home (OR = 0.11, CI 95% 0.04-0.3). Conclusions: Though self-medication is common in university students, there is a dearth in their knowledge regarding the same. This highlights the need for increasing awareness among students regarding hazards of self-medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: | Supplemental Index |
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