Panacea Journal of Medical Sciences

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Assessment of self-medication with analgesics among rural community of South India

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Original Article

Author Details : Ramees M Sali, Naresh Kumar S J*, Varsha R Mokhasi

Volume : 14, Issue : 1, Year : 2024

Article Page : 269-276

https://10.18231/j.pjms.2024.048

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Abstract

Introduction: World Health Organization defines self-medication (SM) as the self-administration of a medication in the absence of a current prescription and/or without consulting a healthcare professional. Analgesics are the most commonly abused drug as a self-medication for relieving pain of any kind among the people. Our aim was to assess the prevalence of self- medication with analgesics and find the social factors associated among the rural people in Southern India.
Materials and Methods: A community based cross sectional study using cluster sampling technique, four villages (clusters) were randomly selected in a rural District and among 460 respondents belonging to age group 18 to 60 years were interviewed.
Results: The mean age in years was 48.4 ± 15.5. About 182(39.6%) were illiterates and many respondents belonged to Agricultural laborers 350(76.1). Self-medication with analgesics is practiced by 24.8% of the respondents. Reason for self-medication was to reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure (72.4%). About 65.8% respondents purchased analgesics over the counter from pharmacy.
Conclusion: The prevalence of self?medication with analgesics was relatively high which is a threat for the community and can lead to multi organ damage to among rural people. Universal policy on drug selling over the pharmacy counter should be strictly implemented.
 
Keywords: Analgesics, Pain, Self­medication, Prevalence, Pharmacy

How to cite : Sali R M, Naresh Kumar S J, Mokhasi V R, Assessment of self-medication with analgesics among rural community of South India. Panacea J Med Sci 2024;14(1):269-276

Copyright © 2024 by author(s) and Panacea J Med Sci. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (creativecommons.org)