Teni Fitsum Sebsibe, Birru Eshetie Melese, Surur Abdrrahman Shemsu, Belay Assefa, Wondimsigegn Dawit, Gelayee Dessalegn Asmelashe, Shewamene Zewdneh
Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
BMC Res Notes. 2017 Jul 28;10(1):357. doi: 10.1186/s13104-017-2669-7.
Medicine use can be influenced by several factors. Health managers need specific information about irrational use of medicines, in order to identify opportunities to enhance rational use of medicines in their communities. This study aimed to assess the pattern and factors associated with household medicine use in Gondar town, northwestern Ethiopia.
An interviewer-administered cross-sectional survey was conducted on 771 households, carried out between 5 April and 6 May 2015. The questionnaire contained items focusing on different aspects of medicine use in the households. The analysis involved descriptive summary and binary logistic regression test, which assessed association of independent variables with medicine use.
Of the households interviewed, 22.4% (173/771) disclosed the presence of at least one chronic disease in the family; while 49.2% reported the use of medicine in the one month prior to the study. Almost all of the households (92.6%) reported a habit of discontinuing medicines, and 17.8% disclosed a practice of sharing medicines with household members and others. Level of education, presence of health professionals, and individuals with chronic illness in the households were linked to increased likelihood of reporting medicine use. Discarding leftover medicines with garbage (56.7%) was the principal means of disposal reported by the households.
A high proportion of reported medicine use, together with problems such as sharing with other people and leaving medicines unfinished were found among the households in the study.
药物使用会受到多种因素影响。卫生管理人员需要有关不合理用药的具体信息，以便确定在其社区中促进合理用药的机会。本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚西北部贡德尔镇家庭用药的模式及相关因素。
于2015年4月5日至5月6日对771户家庭进行了由访谈员实施的横断面调查。问卷包含聚焦家庭用药不同方面的项目。分析包括描述性总结和二元逻辑回归测试，评估自变量与用药之间的关联。
在接受访谈的家庭中，22.4%（173/771）透露家中至少有一名慢性病患者；而49.2%报告在研究前一个月使用过药物。几乎所有家庭（92.6%）报告有停药习惯，17.8%透露有与家庭成员及他人分享药物的行为。家庭中的教育水平、卫生专业人员的存在以及慢性病患者与报告用药的可能性增加有关。将剩余药物与垃圾一起丢弃（56.7%）是家庭报告的主要处理方式。
研究中的家庭存在较高比例的报告用药情况，同时还存在与他人分享药物和药物未用完等问题。
