Misuse of over the counter medicines in community pharmacies in Scotland

Abstract

This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/61347/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Strathprints administrator: strathprints@strath.ac.ukThe Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output. Misuse of Over the Counter (OTC) Medicines in Community Pharmacies in Scotland AbstractThe general public are taking more responsibility for their health, using community pharmacy as a source to access medication.There is a reported increase and change in the misuse of OTC medication from community pharmacies in Scotland (Wright et al, 2015).This article was designed to examine the self-reported use of medication from a small sample of community pharmacies in Scotland. The questionnaire gathered patient demographics and details of medicines used.The study concentrated on 2 treatment areas, opioid analgesics and sedative antihistamines licensed as a sleep aid. Both previously identified as the most prevalent OTC medications that were perceived to being misused (Matheson et al, 2007) Data was collected over a short time period in 2015 from 15 community pharmacies. The data demonstrates the widespread misuse of OTC. The most prevalent group identified as females, 41-60 years old and employed. It was most commonly reported that the recommended treatment duration is exceeded rather than the maximum recommended daily dose.The recommendations from the article are that there needs to be greater awareness for pharmacists, pharmacy staff and general public on the potential dangers of misusing OTC medications and the importance of adhering to the recommended dosing and duration guidelines.

A mixed-methods systematic review of the prevalence, reasons, associated harms and risk-reduction interventions of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines misuse, abuse and dependence in adults

“…Among the gay community in London, the prevalence of misuse of OTC coughs mixtures with sedative properties in the group of males having sex with males was 3.6% versus 3.1% in the group not involving in sexual acts [ 20 ]. In Scotland, the prevalence of misuse of OTC analgesics containing codeine and sedative antihistamine in pharmacy customers was 39.45% [ 21 ]. Individuals suffering from regular headaches and presenting for self-medication in community pharmacies in Belgium were estimated to misuse analgesics at a total rate of 24%, of whom 58.2% misused caffeine-combined analgesics and 51% misused paracetamol [ 22 ].…”

Non‐medical use of prescription‐only and OTC medicines: part 1

“…The extent of OTC medication misuse is also not fully qualified. Research suggests that four out of five community pharmacists suspect OTC misuse, with the main drugs of misuse being opioids and sedating antihistamines 7 …”

Knowledge and Use of Over-the-counter Drugs in Italy: An Exploratory Survey-based Study in the General Population

“…A major problem in assessing the extent of OTC misuse is the limited research on the problem, as it is mostly focused on the abuse of illicit drugs [ 1 , 25 ]. Currently, even though the problem of OTC abuse has been recognized and studied in recent decades [ 5 , 11 , 26 ], there is limited information on the prevalence of OTC misuse [ 12 , 13 , 27 ].…”