Pagán José A, Ross Sara, Yau Jeffrey, Polsky Daniel
Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, 3641 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Health Policy. 2006 Jan;75(2):170-7. doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2005.03.007.
Self-medication is a common practice in many developing countries but little is known about its determinants. This study analyzes the factors that are associated with the use of self-medication in Mexico using the Mexican Health and Aging Study, a new nationally representative survey on adults aged 50 and over. We find that self-medication is related to socioeconomic status and the lack of access to professional healthcare. Our empirical results suggest that lack of government-sponsored health insurance coverage increases the propensity to self-medicate. A 10% increase in the proportion of adults with health insurance coverage could decrease the use of pharmacy consultations by .8% for public sector workers and by 1.7% for private sector workers. Increasing health insurance coverage could reduce the demand for self-medication by making healthcare more affordable and by changing the population perceptions about the benefits of modern medicine.
自我药疗在许多发展中国家是一种常见做法，但对其决定因素却知之甚少。本研究利用墨西哥健康与老龄化研究（一项针对50岁及以上成年人的具有全国代表性的新调查）分析了墨西哥与自我药疗使用相关的因素。我们发现自我药疗与社会经济地位以及难以获得专业医疗服务有关。我们的实证结果表明，缺乏政府资助的医疗保险覆盖会增加自我药疗的倾向。有医疗保险覆盖的成年人比例增加10%，可能会使公共部门工作人员的药房咨询使用率降低0.8%，私营部门工作人员降低1.7%。扩大医疗保险覆盖范围可以使医疗服务更具可承受性，并改变人们对现代医学益处的看法，从而减少对自我药疗的需求。
