Assessment of nature, reasons, and consequences of self-medication practice among general population of Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE

• Published in: International journal of applied and basic medical research Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 3 - 8
• Main Authors: Sridhar, Sathvik, Shariff, Atiqulla, Dallah, Lana, Anas, Doaa, Ayman, Maryam, M Rao, Padma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.01.2018; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Age; Analysis; Antibiotics; Arabic language; Drug stores; Health sciences; Illnesses; Original; Pharmaceutical sciences; Pharmacology; Pharmacy; Polls & surveys; Public health; Questionnaires; Self care (Health); Self medication; Sociodemographics; Students; Studies; Surveys; Systematic review; United Arab Emirates; Iran; self-medication practice; safety of self-medication; self-medication; Perception and experiences regarding self-medication; nature; reasons and consequences of self-medication
• ISSN: 2229-516X; 2248-9606
• DOI: 10.4103/ijabmr.IJABMR_46_17

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the nature, reasons, and consequences of self-medication practice among the general population of Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional, survey-based study. Data with respect to knowledge, awareness, and practices regarding self-medication were collected through an interviewer-assisted questionnaire answered by the study participants. Thus, collected data from 413 survey respondents were analyzed using SPSS version 24.0. Results: The prevalence of self-medication practices among our study respondents was 52.1%. A headache (155 [37.5%]) was the most common clinical condition treated through self-medication practice. Familiarity with the treatment/medication (198 [48%]) was the most common cited reasons, whereas the advertisement and friend's advice were the most (182 [44%]) cited sources of information for self-medication usage. The majority (265 [64.1%]) of the respondents were considered self-medication practice as safe. However, 19 respondents reported side-effects or complications during the due course of self-medication. It was observed that there is a statistically significant association (P < 0.05) between age and employment status of this study participants with self-medication practices. Conclusion: The data from this study show that the self-medication practice is very common among the study population. Variables such as younger age group and occupation status were significantly associated with self-medication practice. We emphasize the role of pharmacist in educating the community regarding safe medication practices such as harmful effects of self-medicating and inappropriate practices such as sharing the medications among family members and friends.