Abstract: Self-medication, a form of self-care, is a topic of growing interest among researchers and health policy makers, owing to a plethora of advantages and disadvantages associated with its practice in general population. There is paucity of adequate information about this issue, especially in developing countries; there is much public and professional concern about the irrational use of drugs. The prevalence rates are high all over the world; up to 68% in European countries, while much higher in the developing countries with rates going as high as 92% in the adolescents of Kuwait. The outcome of this study will provide data regarding reasons, public awareness and safety aspects of self-medication among Suez Canal university students. To reduce of consequences of medication misuse through describing pattern of self-medication misuse. To determine the prevalence, attitude and knowledge of self- -medication amongst Suez Canal University. This cross-sectional, study was conducted from March, 2014. A Simple random sample was taken from University student, males and females at Faculty of Commerce, Suez Canal University. Data was collected by an interviewer- administered questionnaire, coded and entered into the Microsoft Office Excel program (2010). IBM SPSS Statistics (20) Program was used for data analysis. From the 90 participants (mean age=26 ± 18 years) the prevalence of self-medication was 91.1%Self-medication misuse is most common in rural (96.15%) than in urban (89%). In our study we found that males who use medicines without prescription 90% ,while females 94.8% .the most common reason for self-medication was (44.4% used the medicine for an urgent purpose. 42.4 use it because of laziness. 6.7% use medicines without prescription because the financial status prevent them from going to the doctor).while the most common used medicines without prescription are painkiller and antibiotics , we also found that 28.9%of the people having medicines without prescription had side effects.65.6% had no side effects, the common side effects were headaches and malaise and the most common reason was to be prescripted by a doctor or a pharmacist previously, 21.1% was to be described by someone,10% was to be self-prescripted. The prevalence of self-medication was high among rural females This indicates the importance of education and awareness. The study also revealed confidence of the doctor’s and pharmacist’s opinion or advice, the financial status also prevents them from going to the doctor. Although generally people have nowledge, but more awareness on self-medication is needed.
Keywords: Self- Medication Misuse, University Student.
University: Suez Canal University, Egypt
Title: Patterns of Self-Medication Misuse among University Students
Author: Ahmed Mostafa, Alaa Hany, Esraa Ayed, Eman Ali, Bassant Fathy, Dina Khalil, Sohaila Soliman, Shrouk Hasan, Shymaa Abd El razek, Marina Emad, Mohamed Mousa
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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