Study on Self-medication Practices among University Students of Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT

Aims: To know how much knowledge and awareness university students of Bangladesh have about commonly used medicines. Study Design: The study was conducted on 1200 students randomly selected from 9 university of Bangladesh, in which 87.5% were master’s student and remaining 12.5% were honor’s students. Each willing participant shared their opinion. Place and Duration of Study Dhaka University (DU), Jahangirnagar University (JU), Eastern University (EU), East West University (EWU), Daffodil International University (DIU), North South University (NSU), International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), University of Information Technology & Science (UITS) and University of Science & Technology (USTC), Bangladesh, from May to July 2012. Methodology: Questionnaires were distributed among the students, information about students and knowledge about self-medication practices of medicine was determined. Results: The present study revealed that most frequently used medicine was analgesic/antipyretic (58.75%), followed by antiulcerants (40.17%), antibiotics (18.17%), antihistamines (10.58%) and antitussive (9.33%). 54.5% students took analgesic/antipyretic based on self-decision, followed by 49.83% antibiotics, 43.5% antiulcerants, 46.83% antitussives and 31.08% antihistamines respectively. Based on retailer advice 25% students took antimicrobials. 47.83% students said that they took antibiotics because of fever, 27% said the reason was infection, 13.58% took antibiotics because of GI disease and 12.5% mentioned others. 67.67% had no idea about side effect of antibiotics, followed by 53.17% for analgesic/antipyretic, 53.2% for antihistamine, 47.75% for antitussives and 28% for antiulcerants. Conclusion: Self-medication was practiced with a range of drugs from the analgesic/antipyretic to antibiotics. Most of the students didn’t know about the side-effects of these medicines as well as the antibiotics resistance. Although the practice of self-medication is unavoidable; drug authorities and health professionals need to educate students about the health hazards of self-medication.