Self-medication with over the counter drugs, prevalence of risky practice and its associated factors in pharmacy outlets of Asmara, Eritrea

Tesfamariam, Sirak; Anand, Indermeet Singh; Kaleab, Ghide; Berhane, Samson; Woldai, Biruck; Habte, Eyasu; Russom, Mulugeta

doi:10.1186/s12889-019-6470-5

Cited by 97 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…10 But the prevalence was lower as compared to the study done in Pune 87.5%, 19 Nigeria 81.8% 3 and Eritrea 93.7%. 30 Additionally, the prevalence was by far greater than those findings in Ethiopia reported from different cities and town's including Sire 27.26%, 38 Addis Ababa 26.6%, 39 Mekelle University 42.67%, 13 Gondar University 38.5%, 9 Assendabo 39%, 40 Nekemte (36.7%) 41 and Jimma 27.6%. 42 The types, extent, and reason for SM might vary from place to place due to study methodological differences and variation in sociodemographic characteristics of the study participants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…The low severity of symptoms of illness was also frequently reported in the previous study by Ali et al 8 Other studies reported different reasons for SMP. For example, cost and convenience, 16,47 cost and mildness of illness, 38 ease of accessibility and saving time 208 (24.4%), 30 and financial constraints and familiarity with medicines 10 were the major reasons of SMPs. The difference for the reasons for SMP might be due to the difference in socio-demographic factors, study setup, study design and eligibility criteria involved.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analgesics (44.4%) and antibiotics (42.7%) were the most commonly used categories of medicines correlated with previous study findings. 2,3,[8][9][10]13,19,30,39 Analgesics were the most common class of medications used in the SMPs because such drugs are used to treat simple common illnesses like headache, fever and pain. This was due to many analgesics are OTC drugs that are by law obtainable without prescriptions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…26 However, inappropriate SMP could have serious implications and global concern especially among elderly and special physiological conditions like pregnancy and lactation. 2,23,[28][29][30][31] It results in economic wastages, drug interactions, contraindication, prolong suffer, damaging of vital organs as well as responsible for the development of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. 22,24,30,32 It is also hazards to health because of the wrong diagnosis, inappropriate dosage regimen, risk of adverse drug reactions, incorrect choice of therapy, use of unnecessary expensive drugs, masking of severe disease as well as the risk of dependence and abuse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2,23,[28][29][30][31] It results in economic wastages, drug interactions, contraindication, prolong suffer, damaging of vital organs as well as responsible for the development of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. 22,24,30,32 It is also hazards to health because of the wrong diagnosis, inappropriate dosage regimen, risk of adverse drug reactions, incorrect choice of therapy, use of unnecessary expensive drugs, masking of severe disease as well as the risk of dependence and abuse. 11,16,[27][28][29]31,32 SM also increasing health-care costs and causing mortality and morbidity in different areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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<p>Self-Medication Practices and Associated Factors Among Health-Care Professionals in Selected Hospitals of Western Ethiopia</p>

Fekadu¹,

Dugassa²,

Negera³

et al. 2020

PPA

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Background: Even though the type, extent and reasons for self-medication practice (SMP) vary, globally self-medication (SM) is rising to relieve burdens on health services. However, inappropriate SMP results in economic wastes, damage of vital organs, incorrect therapy selection, risk of adverse drug reactions and development of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. These consequences have severe implications including legal, ethical and quality of health-care delivery. Temporal increment and high prevalence of SM among health professionals is also a major bottleneck for Ethiopia. Hence, the study aimed to assess the SM among health-care professionals (HCPs) in selected governmental hospitals of Western Ethiopia. Methods: An instiution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 338 HCPs using a pre-tested and self-adminstered questionnaries from March 1 to 25, 2018. Simple random sampling was used to select study participants and SMP (yes or no) was the outcome of the study variable. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) were calculated and all results were deemed to be statistically significant when p < 0.05. Results: Among the 338 participants, 184 (54.4%) were females and the mean age of the study participants was 25±3.23 years. About 154 (45.6%) of them had work experience of less than 5 years and 49.7% were nurses by profession. The prevalence of SM was 73.4% with 3 months of recall for SM. Familiarity with medicines and ailments (46.8%) and mildness of illness (40.7%) were the most common reasons to self-medicate. The most frequently reported ailments were headache (37.1%) and gastric pain (29.8%). Analgesics (44.4%) and antibiotics (42.7%) were the most commonly used self-medicated categories of drugs. Female sex (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =2.13, 95% CI: 1.43-8.66), age 20-29 years (AOR=4.53, 95% CI: 1.01-14.45) and work experience of <5 years (AOR= 3.01, 95% CI: 1.32-11.71) were significantly associated with SMPs. Conclusion: The study revealed a high prevalence of SMP among HCPs. Sex, age, and work experience were significantly associated with SMPs. Hence, the use of prescription drugs without prescription should be discouraged and appropriate health education should be provided by all concerned bodies on the proper use of drugs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

<p>Self-Medication Practices and Associated Factors Among Health-Care Professionals in Selected Hospitals of Western Ethiopia</p>

Fekadu¹,

Dugassa²,

Negera³

et al. 2020

PPA

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Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic herb–drug interactions of common over‐the‐counter pain medications

Sun

Tsai

2023

Biomedical Chromatography

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Pain is one of the most common reasons for seeking medical intervention, and self‐medication with over‐the‐counter medications and/or traditional herbal remedies has become increasingly popular. In this review, original articles on understanding possible herb–drug interactions between traditional herbs and four major pain medications—acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen—are compiled and analyzed. In terms of analytical methods, high‐performance liquid chromatography using an isocratic eluent system coupled to biological sample clean‐up is the most common, while a wide variety of detectors have been observed, including a photodiode array, variable wavelength detector, electrochemical detector and tandem mass spectrometer. Both synergistic and anti‐synergistic effects were observed for acetaminophen and aspirin, while only synergistic effects have been found for naproxen. Currently, no interactions have been reported for ibuprofen.

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Self‐medication practice with antimalarials & the determinants of malaria treatment‐seeking behavior among postpartum mothers in a rural community in Nigeria

Iribhogbe

Odoya

2020

Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug

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Background The majority of the population has inappropriate malaria treatment‐seeking behavior and little is known about self‐medication practice with antimalarials among postpartum mothers. Aim & objectives of study The study, therefore, aims to determine the prevalence of self‐treatment practice with antimalarials and identify factors that determine inappropriate treatment‐seeking practice in this susceptible group. Research methods The study is a cross‐sectional study that was conducted using a purposive sampling technique. In the study, 150 respondents were administered questionnaires by one‐on‐one interviews, and results were presented as frequencies and proportions. A chi‐square test was done to determine the association between independent categorical variables and the dependent variable. Results In the study, 91 (60.7%) of the women claimed they did malaria screening tests in the laboratory/clinic before treatment, while only half of them sought professional care for treatment after the screening test. Additionally, most of the participants claimed they practice self‐medication with antimalarials for themselves (64, 42.7%), and their newborn children (34, 22.7%). The experience of adverse effects (χ2 = 4.790, df = 1, p = .029) drug prescription by doctors (χ2 = 10.26, df = 1, p = .001) and the experience of malaria in the rainy season (χ2 = 4.86, df = 2, p = .027) was significantly related to receiving malaria treatment in the clinic/hospital. Conclusion The study has shown that the practice of self‐medication and inappropriate malaria treatment behavior is common in postpartum women in rural settings hence public health intervention that will develop standardized self‐treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria will be useful in promoting appropriate self‐treatment practice in this population. Highlights Self‐medication practice with antimalarials among postpartum mothers both for themselves and their newborn child was 42.7% and 22.7% respectively One of the reasons adduced for such practice is that malaria is expensive to treat (37, 24.7%) Artemether/lumefantrine combination was the most commonly used drug for treatment (75.3%), and most of the participants preferred parenteral medication (68%) to oral drugs The experience of adverse effects was significantly related to receiving treatment in the clinic/hospital Of the 60.7% of women who claimed they did malaria screening test, only half of them sought professional care after the test.

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Self-medication with over the counter drugs, prevalence of risky practice and its associated factors in pharmacy outlets of Asmara, Eritrea

Cited by 97 publications

References 12 publications

<p>Self-Medication Practices and Associated Factors Among Health-Care Professionals in Selected Hospitals of Western Ethiopia</p>

<p>Self-Medication Practices and Associated Factors Among Health-Care Professionals in Selected Hospitals of Western Ethiopia</p>

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic herb–drug interactions of common over‐the‐counter pain medications

Self‐medication practice with antimalarials & the determinants of malaria treatment‐seeking behavior among postpartum mothers in a rural community in Nigeria

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