Estimation of self - medication practices among rural Kanchipuram, India
Journal Title: International Archives of Integrated Medicine - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 10
Abstract
Background: Interest in self-care, poor economic conditions,health-seekingbehavior, socio-cultural factors, ignorance, excessive advertisement on drugs and availability of drugs in other than medical shops are responsible for the practice of Self-Medication. Aim and objectives: To find out prevalence of Self-Medication practice among rural people in Kanchipuram and to find out possible reasons for Self-Medication and factors influencing self-medication practice. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was done in five randomly selected villages in the field practice area of MMCH&RI. After getting informed consent, the questionnaire was administered to 250 households randomly. Results: Among 250 households surveyed, 47.6% (119) respondents were in the age group of 20-40 years, 56.8% (142) were females and 51.2% (128) households belong to the poor socio-economic class. The prevalence of self-medication in the sample was 58.4% (146). Younger age, higher educational status, and higher socioeconomic status were associated with higher prevalence. In this study, the main reason given for self-medication practice was the poor quality of care in Government hospitals (32.9%) followed by 26% of subjects said they treat themselves for similar illness from previous experience etc. The common symptoms for taking self-medication were fever (39.8%) and headache (23.45%). Majority of them (74%) kept the medicines in closet and few (15.2%) kept in bags. Commonly taken medicines are fever relieving drugs (39.04%) and cough syrups (28.08%). Adverse drug effects which were commonly encountered due to self-medication are gastritis (39.04%), rash and swelling (29.45%), sedation (15.06%) and increase in symptom (16.43%). Among the people who took painkillers, 59% of them experienced gastritis. Conclusion: Increased prevalence of self-medication even among rural people may lead to consequences such as drug interactions, drug dependence and drug resistance due to irrational use of drugs and causes increased morbidity.
Authors and Affiliations
Gayathri S, Kokila Selvaraj, Satyajith P, Mithunkumar G. H.
Keywords
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