Influência da publicidade na automedicação na população de um município brasileiro de médio porte

Abstract

Introdução: A automedicação é uma prática que, feita de forma arbitrária, traz riscos reais à saúde da população. Entretanto, seus fatores contributivos, sobretudo a influência da propaganda no consumo de fármacos, não tem uma correlação bem estabelecida na literatura. Objetivos: Estimar a prevalência da automedicação e avaliar a influência da propaganda nesse hábito. Método: estudo transversal, quantitativo, no município de Crato, Ceará, Brasil, com amostra de 104 pessoas. Resultados: 67% da amostra praticava automedicação. Destas, 80% conheciam os riscos para a prática. Uma parcela de 67,6% dos praticantes revelou ser influenciada pela propaganda para a escolha do medicamento e, entre eles, a taxa de automedicação foi de 1,6x maior (p=0,004). O sexo, a idade e a renda não exerceram influência sobre a referida prática (p>0,05). Conclusões: A prevalência de automedicação entre os participantes é elevada, o que denota uma necessidade real de se repensar as normas regimentais de publicidade, assim como desperta e sugere para o impacto que campanhas publicitárias bem elaboradas podem ter no público em geral, configurando uma potencial ferramenta de saúde pública.

Self-Medication during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil: Findings and Implications to Promote the Rational Use of Medicines

“…Among the most-used drugs by self-medication in this study are analgesics, antipyretics, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories, and anti-flu drugs. These findings are similar to those of a study conducted by Gonçalves Júnior et al [ 8 ], who found that the most commonly self-medicated drugs consumed by the population studied were analgesics, antipyretics, anti-flu medications, drugs for gastric discomfort, and antibiotics.…”

“…These data are similar to those of a cross-sectional study conducted in the municipality of Crato, state of Ceará, from 2013 to 2014, in which 104 individuals were interviewed. The authors observed a prevalence of self-medication of 67.65% [ 8 ]. Another study conducted in Brazil, involving 270 individuals (181 adolescents and 89 adults), with a mean age of 23.1 ± 10.8, showed that 69.3% of them practiced self-medication [ 18 ].…”

“…Political, cultural, and economic factors have contributed to the increase in self-medication, making it one of the main public health problems [ 7 ]. The ease of access to medicines, as well as their promotion and advertising in the pharmaceutical market, can influence the practice of self-medication, which contributes to the unnecessary and inappropriate use of these products [ 8 ]. Moreover, it may be influenced by the population’s difficulty in accessing public healthcare services and affording a private health insurance plan [ 9 , 10 ].…”

“…The lack of knowledge about the indications and dosages of medicines, including easy access to them, and the lack of information leads to several situations that can cause serious damage and consequences to the user’s health. These situations may include incorrect administration of drugs, inadequate dosage, incorrect route of drug administration, insufficient or a longer-than-necessary treatment time, incorrect self-diagnosis, errors in the choice of drug therapy, masking of serious diseases, the emergence of adverse events, risk of dependence and abuse, among others [ 8 , 10 ].…”

Self-medication in the Bahian population during the Covid-19 pandemic period

“…Pitta et al ( 2021) described a similar prevalence in a previous work on self-medication in Brazil during Covid-19. There was a report in the literature about self-medication in a young adult population, with a medium level of education, which can be alarming given the indiscriminate use of drugs without proper prescription (Júnior et al, 2018).…”