Department of Paediatrics, University Children's Hospital, Krakow, Poland.
Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
J Mother Child. 2021 Oct 11;25(1):35-43. doi: 10.34763/jmotherandchild.20212501.d-20-00024.
Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are becoming increasingly popular. However, little is known about parents' practices concerning the use of OTC antipyretics in children. This paper aimed to study the habits and knowledge of parents regarding the use of OTC antipyretics in their offspring, considering the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the families.
A multiple-purpose survey was conducted anonymously among 229 parents of patients hospitalised in the Department of Paediatrics, University Children's Hospital, Krakow. Each parent answered 23 questions regarding OTC antipyretics use in his/her hospitalised child throughout the whole child's life. The data was statistically analysed.
OTC antipyretics are administered to their children by 92% of parents. In the vast majority (87%), health care professionals or a leaflet were the sources of information on the drug and its dosage. Parents also used information from TV or the Internet (27%) and friends and family (30%), especially those in the younger age group. Families with high socioeconomic status were more likely to use health care professionals' advice for drug knowledge. Parents of children with allergic diseases made less use of nonmedical sources of knowledge.
The majority of parents use OTC antipyretic drugs in their children. However, a high percentage of people using nonmedical sources of information is of concern. It is necessary to educate caregivers and to build the parents' awareness that they take an active role in their child's treatment. It would be useful to create generally available recommendations for home treatment.
非处方（OTC）药物越来越受欢迎。然而，人们对父母在儿童中使用 OTC 退烧药的做法知之甚少。本文旨在研究父母在其子女中使用 OTC 退烧药的习惯和知识，同时考虑家庭的人口统计学和社会经济特征。
对在克拉科夫大学儿童医院儿科住院的 229 名患儿的父母进行了一项多用途的匿名调查。每位家长都回答了 23 个关于其住院孩子一生中使用 OTC 退烧药的问题。对数据进行了统计分析。
92%的父母会给孩子服用 OTC 退烧药。在绝大多数情况下（87%），医护人员或药品说明书是获取药物及其剂量信息的来源。父母还会从电视或互联网（27%）和朋友及家人（30%）获取信息，尤其是年龄较小的父母。社会经济地位较高的家庭更有可能根据医护人员的建议获取药物知识。患有过敏性疾病的儿童的父母较少使用非医疗来源的知识。
大多数父母会在孩子中使用 OTC 退烧药。然而，人们大量使用非医疗来源的信息令人担忧。有必要对护理人员进行教育，并使父母认识到他们在孩子的治疗中扮演着积极的角色。制定普遍适用的家庭治疗建议将是有益的。
