Ramay Brooke M, Lambour Paola, Cerón Alejandro
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Department of Anthropology, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA.
BMC Pharmacol Toxicol. 2015 Apr 27;16:11. doi: 10.1186/s40360-015-0011-3.
Self-medication with antibiotics may result in antimicrobial resistance and its high prevalence is of particular concern in Low to Middle Income Countries (LMIC) like Guatemala. A better understanding of self-medication with antibiotics may represent an opportunity to develop interventions guiding the rational use of antibiotics. We aimed to compare the magnitude of antibiotic self-medication and the characteristics of those who self-medicate in two pharmacies serving disparate socio-economic communities in Guatemala City.
We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study in one Suburban pharmacy and one City Center pharmacy in Guatemala City. We used a questionnaire to gather information about frequency of self-medication, income and education of those who self-medicate. We compared proportions between the two pharmacies, using two-sample z-test as appropriate.
Four hundred and eighteen respondents completed the survey (221 in the Suburban pharmacy and 197 in the City Center pharmacy). Most respondents in both pharmacies were female (70%). The reported monthly income in the suburban pharmacy was between $1,250.00-$2,500.00, the city-center pharmacy reported a monthly income between $125.00- $625.00 (p < 0.01). Twenty three percent of Suburban pharmacy respondents and 3% in the City Center pharmacy completed high school (p < 0.01). Proportion of self-medication was 79% in the Suburban pharmacy and 77% in City Center pharmacy. In both settings, amoxicillin was reported as the antibiotic most commonly used.
High proportions of self-medication with antibiotics were reported in two pharmacies serving disparate socio-economic groups in Guatemala City. Additionally, self-medicating respondents were most often women and most commonly self-medicated with amoxicillin. Our findings support future public health interventions centered on the regulation of antibiotic sales and on the potential role of the pharmacist in guiding prescription with antibiotics in Guatemala.
抗生素自我药疗可能导致抗菌药物耐药性，在危地马拉等低收入和中等收入国家（LMIC），其高流行率尤其令人担忧。更好地了解抗生素自我药疗可能为制定指导合理使用抗生素的干预措施提供契机。我们旨在比较危地马拉城两个服务于不同社会经济社区的药店中抗生素自我药疗的程度以及自我药疗者的特征。
我们在危地马拉城的一家郊区药店和一家市中心药店进行了一项描述性横断面研究。我们使用问卷收集关于自我药疗频率、自我药疗者的收入和教育程度的信息。我们使用两样本z检验适当地比较了两家药店之间的比例。
418名受访者完成了调查（郊区药店221人，市中心药店197人）。两家药店的大多数受访者为女性（70%）。郊区药店报告的月收入在1250.00美元至2500.00美元之间，市中心药店报告的月收入在125.00美元至625.00美元之间（p < 0.01）。郊区药店23%的受访者和市中心药店3%的受访者完成了高中学业（p < 0.01）。郊区药店的自我药疗比例为79%，市中心药店为77%。在这两种情况下，阿莫西林都被报告为最常用的抗生素。
在危地马拉城服务于不同社会经济群体的两家药店中，报告的抗生素自我药疗比例都很高。此外，自我药疗的受访者大多是女性，最常用的自我药疗药物是阿莫西林。我们的研究结果支持未来以危地马拉抗生素销售监管以及药剂师在指导抗生素处方方面的潜在作用为中心的公共卫生干预措施。
