Prevalence and Pattern of Self-medication Practices in Rural Area of Barabanki.

ABSTRACT

Background: The use of self-medication is highly prevalent in the community. Self-medication can be defined as obtaining and consuming one (or more) drug(s) without the advice of a physician either for diagnosis, prescription or surveillance of treatment. Aims and objectives: To study the prevalence and pattern of self-medication practices in rural area of Barabanki. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in rural area of Barabanki to assess the knowledge, awareness and perception of self-medication practices by house-to-house survey during the period of October 2013 to March 2014. Results: Out of 235 participants enrolled, 168 responded (71.5%). A total of 67 (28.5%) participants were excluded in accordance with the exclusion criteria like incomplete information and not using self-medication. Out of 168 respondents, 117 (69.6%) reported self-medication within 1 year of recall period. Most common conditions/symptoms for self-medication in students were fever (72.6%), pain (64.3%) and respiratory symptoms (57.1%), followed by infections, headache and diarrhea, etc. Self-medication was the most common category of drugs used by all the participants except highly educated who used drugs prescribed by physician. Conclusion: Self-medication is an alarming sign for society.