Consumption of medicines in high-risk pregnancy: evaluation of determinants related to the use of prescription drugs and self-medication

The use of drugs during pregnancy still represents a challenge for medicine, since the majority of drugs cross the placental barrier with a potential to cause several congenital problems to the fetus, and most of them have not been clinically tested in pregnant patients. At the same time, the medicalization phenomenon, self-medication, and lack of patient information about the misuse of medicines are additional problems. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the pattern of medicine consumption in high-risk pregnancies and the determinants related to this consumption pattern. In order to do so, a cross-sectional descriptive study was performed with puerperal women who had a history of high-risk pregnancy. Statistically significant associations were found between self-medication and fewer prenatal visits, and cigarette use during pregnancy and a higher number of children. According to these data, the vulnerability of this population to the risks of drug use is evident, demonstrating a gap that requires urgent interventions in health-care education.

O uso de medicamentos na gestação representa, ainda hoje, um desafio para a medicina, visto que grande parte dos fármacos atravessa a barreira placentária e, na maioria, não foi testada clinicamente em gestantes, podendo vir a ocasionar diversos problemas congênitos ao feto. Ao mesmo tempo, a automedicação, o fenômeno da medicalização e a falta de informação sobre os riscos do mau uso de medicamentos são problemas adicionais. Diante disto, o objetivo deste estudo consistiu em avaliar o padrão de consumo de medicamentos na gestação de alto risco e os determinantes relacionados ao seu padrão de consumo. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo descritivo de corte transversal com puérperas, que apresentaram gestação de alto risco. Verificaram-se associações estatisticamente significativas entre automedicação e mulheres com menor número de consultas de pré-natal, uso de cigarro na gestação e maior número de filhos. De posse destes dados, fica evidente a vulnerabilidade dessa população aos riscos decorrentes do uso de medicamentos, sendo esta lacuna um campo de prática com necessidade de intervenções urgentes no âmbito da educação em saúde.

Self-medication: initial treatments used by patients seen in an ophthalmologic emergency room

OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to identify practices of self-medication in the treatment of ocular emergencies. We examine patients' use of both homemade preparations and manufactured products before seeking specialized care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analytic survey of consecutive patients seen in the ophthalmology emergency room of a teaching hospital. RESULTS: The sample included 561 subjects, 51.3 percent males and 48.7 percent females, with a mean age of 39.8 years. Prior to seeking emergency care, 40.5 percent reported self-medicating; 29.4 percent used a homemade preparation (13.9 percent referred to an industrialized product like boric acid as a homemade preparation), and 11.1 percent used a manufactured product. The most frequently used products included a boric acid solution (53.3 percent), a normal saline solution (35.7 percent), herbal infusions (6.1 percent) and breast milk (4.8 percent). Viral conjunctivitis was the most frequent diagnosis (24.4 percent), followed by the presence of a corneal foreign body (7.4 percent). No significant differences were found in the self-treatment of ocular injuries according to gender (p = 0.95), level of education (p = 0.21) or age (p = 0.14). In addition, self-medication practices were not related to the medically judged severity of the condition. CONCLUSION: Patients often attempt to treat conditions that require ophthalmologic emergency care by self-medicating with homemade or manufactured products. The most widely used products include boric acid, normal saline, leaf infusions and breast milk. This behavior occurs independently of educational level, gender, age or the nature of the ocular condition. Self-medication is a culturally driven practice that is used even in cases of acute ocular injuries.

Medicamentos, embarazo y la clasificación de la Food and Drug Administration- FDA / Drugs, pregnancy and the FDA clasification

Recordemos que toda sustancia puede ser veneno todo depende de la dosis, es el este sentido que los medicamentos no son la excepción, por lo que el extremar todo tipo de cuidados en la adminsitración de medicamentos, es imprescindible, mucho más si hablamos de una etapa tan importante como es el embarazo. Este es un problema que se da a todo nivel, comenzando de la persona embarazada que se automedica, hasta llegar al personal de salud, que no toma encuenta la existencia de un posible embarazo y que el más "simple"de los fármacos puede afectar en el desarrollo del embrión o feto de acuerdo al caso, por lo que una evaluación del riesgo-beneficio es primordial antes de recomendar un medicamento. En este sentido la FDA (Food an Drug Administration) realizó una clasificación de los medicamentos de acuerdo a su potencial teratógenico, razon por la cual resulta importante tomar en cuenta la misma para conocer cuales son drogas que se ueden tomar durante el embarazo y cuales no.

Automedicación en alumnos del 3er y 4to curso de las Escuelas de Enfermería y Trabajo Social del Instituto "Dr. Andrés Barbero" de la Universidad Nacional de Asunción

Estudio descriptivo de una muestra de 158 estudiantes de las Escuelas de Enfermería y Trabajo Social del Instituto "Dr. Andrés Barbero" de la Universidad Nacional de Asunción, sobre el porcentaje de automedicación existente entre los estudiantes. Describe el motivo que los induce a automedicarse. Presenta factores determinantes a la hora de utilizar los fármacos