Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
BMC Oral Health. 2024 Sep 19;24(1):1115. doi: 10.1186/s12903-024-04900-8.
Self-medication, particularly for oral and dental health problems, stands as a significant health and social concern. Therefore, the current systematic review and meta-analysis study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and underlying causes of self-medication for oral and dental health problems.
Articles published until August 30, 2023, were searched in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. A manual search was also done in Google Scholar, references, citations, and Gray literature. The screening of articles was done independently by two members of the research team. The quality of reporting in the articles was evaluated using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist For Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies. Meta-analysis was performed using the fixed effects model in Stata software (StataCorp, version 16).
The results of 37 studies involving 12,110 participants with a mean age of 32 years and 48% male were analyzed. Most of the studies were conducted in low- and middle-income countries. The overall prevalence of self-medication was estimated at 59% [95%CI: 55-63%], with 58% [95% CI: 53-63%] among dental patients, and 60% [95% CI: 52-67%] in the general public. Analgesics (60%) and antibiotics (19%) were the most commonly used drug categories. In terms of the mean proportion, having previous experience, unbearable pain, and lack of time had the highest percentages, and in terms of the number of repetitions among the reviewed articles, economic problems, lack of time, and limited access were the most repeated reasons. The most significant related factors in self-treatment were female gender, higher education, and occupation. Pharmacies were the primary source of self-treatment medications.
The results showed a very high prevalence of self-medication for oral health problems, necessitating prompt and effective interventions. It is recommended to focus on regulating the consumption of analgesics and antibiotics, addressing financial issues, and overseeing the pharmacy operations.
自我药疗，特别是针对口腔和牙齿健康问题，是一个重大的健康和社会关注问题。因此，本系统评价和荟萃分析研究旨在评估口腔和牙齿健康问题自我药疗的流行率和潜在原因。
截至 2023 年 8 月 30 日，在 Scopus、PubMed 和 Web of Science 数据库中搜索文章。还在 Google Scholar、参考文献、引文和灰色文献中进行了手动搜索。两名研究团队成员独立筛选文章。使用 JBI 分析性横断面研究批判性评价清单评估文章的报告质量。使用 Stata 软件（StataCorp，版本 16）中的固定效应模型进行荟萃分析。
分析了 37 项涉及 12110 名参与者的研究结果，参与者的平均年龄为 32 岁，男性占 48%。大多数研究在中低收入国家进行。自我药疗的总体流行率估计为 59%[95%CI：55-63%]，其中牙科患者为 58%[95%CI：53-63%]，普通公众为 60%[95%CI：52-67%]。最常用的药物类别是止痛药（60%）和抗生素（19%）。就平均比例而言，有过既往用药经验、难以忍受的疼痛和缺乏时间的患者比例最高，而在回顾的文章中，重复出现的次数最多的原因是经济问题、缺乏时间和有限的可及性。自我治疗中最重要的相关因素是女性、较高的教育程度和职业。药店是自我治疗药物的主要来源。
结果表明，口腔健康问题的自我药疗流行率非常高，需要及时有效的干预措施。建议重点监管止痛药和抗生素的使用，解决经济问题，并监督药店的运营。
