Assessment of antibiotic self-medication practice among public in the northwestern region of Pakistan

Abstract

BackgroundSelf-medication with antibiotics is a common practice, which may lead to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—a major health concern worldwide. The most common reason for the development of AMR is a lack of education and regulatory policies and the lack of community pharmacists.ObjectiveTo assess various factors that lead to self-medication with antibiotics, which might cause AMR and hinder effective healthcare.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out using a predesigned questionnaire to collect data from 800 respondents. The respondents were selected by simple random sampling during November 2014 to January 2015 from different regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. Only properly completed questionnaires were assessed for different variables. The collected data were analysed using SPSS V.16.Results527 people completed and returned the questionnaire—a response rate of 66%. Self-medication with antibiotics was reported by 135 participants (26%), with a higher prevalence of men than women (48% vs 38%, respectively). The main reason for self-medication was previous experience with the same antibiotic (68%). The most commonly used antibiotics were amoxicillin-clavulanate (40%) and major indications for self-medication were sore throat (29%) and flu (24%). Of the 527 respondents, only 104 (20%) were aware of AMR.ConclusionsThis study is the first to evaluate self-medication with antibiotics in KPK, Pakistan. In view of the high prevalence of self-medication, introduction of a public health policy through drug regulatory authorities, public awareness programmes/campaigns, patient education about AMR and appropriate use of antibiotics are critically required. The role of community pharmacists needs to be strengthened.

Evidence of the Practice of Self-Medication with Antibiotics among the Lay Public in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review

“…A total of 24 studies were identified and included in this scoping review study; the characteristics of the included studies are presented in Table 1 . These studies were executed using different methodologies such as cross-sectional [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], quantitative, [ 40 , 41 , 42 ] and mixed-methods or observational designs [ 23 ]. The number of participants in these studies ranged from 100 to 2696 and publication dates ranged from 2009 to 2018.…”

“…Data on attitude, prevalence, sociodemographic factors, predictors and causes of SMA were collected from self-completed questionnaires [ 13 , 14 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 33 , 37 ], face-to-face interviews [ 32 , 36 , 38 , 40 , 41 , 43 ] and observer-rated compliance with recommendations [ 23 ]. Four of the studies were undertaken in Saudi Arabia [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 39 ], three in Pakistan [ 12 , 13 , 42 ], two studies in Jordan [ 40 , 41 ] and Turkey [ 38 , 41 ] and one each from Bangladesh, [ 24 ] Bulgaria [ 23 ], Beirut, [ 32 ] Cameroon [ 33 ] Columbia, [ 34 ] Greece, [ 25 ] Guatemala, [ 35 ] Haiti, [ 36 ] Indonesia [ 26 ] Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, [ 41 ] Nigeria, [ 14 ] Poland, [ 37 ] Portugal, [ 27 ] Romania, [ 43 ] and the United Arab Emirates [ 31 ]. All studies were conducted on the lay public from differe...…”

Pattern of Self-Medication with Prescription Medicines Among Residents of Ilorin in North Central Nigeria

“…The residents were predominantly low income earners with petty trading and student occupants of Kwara State College of Education, Institute of Technology of Kwara State Polytechnic and Al-Hikmah University and in this study we employed a descriptive cross-sectional design, and residents who were 18 years and above were included in the study. A sample size of 294 was calculated using Fisher's formula for a study using analytical study design with the level of confidence set at 95% and a precision of 0.05 [19].…”

Perspective of Key Healthcare Professionals on Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Programs: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study From Pakistan

“…Surprisingly, the overall consumption of antibiotics has increased by 65% from 2000 to 2010 (Klein et al, 2018). Several causes of the irrational use of antibiotics in Pakistan include: an inadequate number of trained medical staff such as infectious disease (ID) physicians and clinical pharmacists, a lack of standard diagnostic labs, the availability of antibiotics over the counter, patients' selfmedication, poor public awareness about the use of antibiotics, and the prescribing of antibiotics by unlicensed practitioners (Gillani et al, 2017;Nazir and Azim, 2017;Hussnain, 2018;Muhammad Majid Aziz et al, 2018;Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, 2018b;Hayat et al, 2019b).…”