Prevalence and Predictors of Self-Medication Practices in India: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Self-medication (SM) is a practice of using medications to treat the self-diagnosed symptoms without legitimate prescription by a health care professional. Alongside posing burden on to a patient, SM practices are associated with certain unfavourable health conditions such as drug-resistance, adverse effects, drug-interactions, including death. Objective: To systematically review and quantify the prevalence of SM practices and its associated factors in India. Methodology: A comprehensive systematic search was performed using scientific databases such as PubMed and Cochrane library for the peer-reviewed research articles that were conducted in India without any language and date restrictions. Studies which are cross-sectional by design and assessing the prevalence and predictors of SM practices in India were considered for the review, and all the relevant articles were screened for their eligibility. Results: Of 248 articles, a total of 17 articles which comprises of 10,248 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, the mean prevalence of SM practices in India was observed to be 53.57%. Familiarity with the medication appears to be a major reason to practice SM (PR: 30.45; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 17.08-43.82; 6 studies), and the practice was noticed more among individuals from a middle-lower class family with a prevalence rate of 26.31 (95%CI: 2.02-50.60; P<0.0001). Minor ailments were the primary reason for practising SM (PR: 42.46; 95%CI: 21.87-63.06), among which headache was the most commonly reported (PR: 41.53; 95%CI: 18.05-65.02). Conclusion: Prevalence of self-medication practices are observed quite high in India. While, NSAIDs and anti-allergic are the most frequently utilized self-medicated drugs used for headache and cold & cough.

Prevalence, knowledge and associated factors on self-medication practice among the community of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Nepal: a cross-sectional study

“…The prevalence rate was in agreement with earlier studies done in Nepal for Pokhara (38.2%) and Morang (44.04%) (Paudel and Aryal, 2020;Parajuli et al, 2019). The studies done in India showed a prevalence rate of 53.57% (Rashid et al, 2020) and that for Yemen reported as 77.3% (Alshakka et al, 2019). The global prevalence rate was reported as 10% to more than 90% (Shaamekhi et al, 2019;Ayalew, 2017).…”

A automedicação da população mundial: uma revisão integrativa

“…As relações da comunidade também interferem e influenciam no uso indiscriminado de medicamentos. Isso porque, em estudos, observa-se que a obtenção desses medicamentos é feita em farmácias, principalmente por orientação de farmacêuticos, além dos adquiridos por amigos e familiares ou pelo uso das sobras de prescrições anteriores (Ayalew, 2017;Khalifeh et al, 2017;Nepal & Bhatta, 2018;Rashid et al, 2020). É importante ressaltar que o risco de acontecer reações adversas por causa do uso de medicamentos sem aconselhamento e prescrição de um profissional adequado, com conhecimento na área, é extremamente potencializado.…”

Secular Trends of Use of Medicines with Special Reference to Antibiotics in the Southern City of India

“…In the current study, it is overwhelming to note a continuous decrease in self-prescription rate from 47% in 1985 to 16% in 2020. However, the rate of self-prescription is not constant in Indian region [14]. There are conflicting reports suggesting of 92%-11%self-medication in Delhi and Puduchery [15,16].…”