Kumari Deesha, Lahiri Banibrata, Das Asutosh, Mailankote Shilpa, Mishra Debasish, Mounika Akula
Department of Public Health Dentistry, AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences (ABSMIDS), Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences, KIIT (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2022 Jul;14(Suppl 1):S577-S580. doi: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_796_21. Epub 2022 Jul 13.
Self-medication is the use of nonprescription drugs to treat a disease by an individual. Amid the looming COVID-19 scenario in our country, wherein universal access to health care is not yet fully established, self-medication can lead to serious effects like antimicrobial resistance and is a matter of public health concern.
The aim of the present study was to assess the self-medication practices among the nonteaching faculty in a private dental college in Mangaluru, India.
The cross-sectional study was conducted for a duration of 6 months. All the nonteaching faculty employed in AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences were included in the study employing the total enumeration sampling technique. A total of 57 participants were included in the study. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee. The participants not providing consent were excluded from the study. The data were obtained using a validated pretested self-administered questionnaire in Kannada language. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 for descriptive and inferential statistics.
Around 50.8% of the participants often or regularly self-medicated. Males were found to practice self-medication higher than females, and this difference was found to be statistically significant ( = 11.088, = 0.001). The most common reason cited for self-medication was that it was less costly (37, 64.9%). Doctors at the workplace (35, 61%) were the most common source of information. The most frequent symptoms provoking self-medication were aches in any body parts (32, 56.1%). The drugs most frequently consumed were analgesics (33, 57.9%), and 28 (49.1%) participants disagreed that self-medication was a safe practice.
Our findings suggest that the prevalence of self-medication was high among the study participants and it is an alarming situation. A holistic approach must be initiated at the grassroots level which would involve health promotion initiatives such as awareness campaigns and regulatory policies to tackle the implications of self-medication.
自我药疗是指个人使用非处方药来治疗疾病。在我国新冠疫情逼近的情况下，全民医疗保健尚未完全普及，自我药疗可能导致抗菌药物耐药性等严重后果，这是一个公共卫生问题。
本研究旨在评估印度芒格洛尔一所私立牙科学院非教学人员的自我药疗行为。
本横断面研究为期6个月。采用整群抽样技术，将AB谢蒂纪念牙科学院所有非教学人员纳入研究。本研究共纳入57名参与者。获得了机构伦理委员会的伦理批准。未提供同意的参与者被排除在研究之外。使用经过验证和预测试的卡纳达语自填问卷获取数据。使用SPSS 23版对收集的数据进行描述性和推断性统计分析。
约50.8%的参与者经常或定期进行自我药疗。发现男性自我药疗的比例高于女性，且这种差异具有统计学意义（χ² = 11.088，P = 0.001）。自我药疗最常见的原因是费用较低（37人，64.9%）。工作场所的医生（35人，61%）是最常见的信息来源。引发自我药疗最常见的症状是身体任何部位疼痛（32人，56.1%）。最常服用的药物是镇痛药（33人，57.9%），28名（49.1%）参与者不同意自我药疗是一种安全的做法。
我们的研究结果表明，自我药疗在研究参与者中普遍存在，这是一个令人担忧的情况。必须在基层层面采取整体方法，包括开展提高认识运动等健康促进举措以及监管政策，以应对自我药疗的影响。
