Background: The consumption of medicine without consulting a doctor is called self-medication. In the recent decade, the prevalence of self-medication was increased mainly in the developing countries. The reason varies from the nonavailability of doctors to economical reason. But people are not aware of the side effects and interactions of drugs. This is risky behavior and may lead to death. The objective of this study is to find out the prevalence and various reasons, sources, and common drugs used for self-medication. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study conducted in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. 166 houses were selected by using a simple random sampling method. One respondent from one household was interviewed by using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed by using SPSS V22. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were applied to find associations. Phi, Cramer Rao V, and contingency coefficient were applied to find the strength of association. A value of P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Among 166 subjects, the majority (58.4%) of participants were in the age group between 18-30 and most of them were female 142 (85.5%). The prevalence of self-medication was 68.1%. The main source of self-medication was directly from the pharmacy, that is, pharmacists (72.6%). Analgesics were commonly (85%) self-medicated drug. The main indication for self-medication was headache (78.8%) and fever (66.4%). Conclusion: The prevalence of self-medication was high and which is hazardous to health. This needs prompt legislative action.

SummaryCohort studies have shown that both overweight and obesity have their impact by increasing hospitalization with COVID‐19. We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, Google Scholar, and MedRxiv databases following the PRISMA guidelines. Statistical analyses were performed using STATA software version 16 MP (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA) and Med Calc software version 22.009(Med Calc software Ltd, Ostend, Belgium). The primary outcome was to measure the prevalence of overweight and obesity and their impact on the risk of hospitalization among COVID‐19 patients under and above 50 years of age. In total, 184 studies involving 2,365,377 patients were included. The prevalence of overweight was highest among those younger than 50 years of age over those older than 50 years of age, (26.33% vs. 30.46%), but there was no difference in obesity (36.30% vs. 36.02%). Overall, the pooled prevalence of overweight and obesity among hospitalized COVID‐19 patients was 31.0% and 36.26%, respectively. Compared with normal weight, the odds of hospitalization with overweight (odds ratio [OR] 2.186, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.19, 3.99], p < 0.01) and obesity (OR 3.069, 95% CI [1.67, 5.61], p < 0.001) in those younger than 50 years and obesity (OR 3.977, 95% CI [2.75, 5.73], p < 0.001) in the older than 50 years age group were significantly high. The increased prevalence of overweight and obesity among the under 50 years age group and obesity among the older than 50 years age group significantly increased the rate of COVID‐19 infections, severity and hospitalization.

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