A systematic review of knowledge, attitude, practice and health impacts of self-medication among COVID-19 affected people in South Asia

The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication and its health impact among South Asian people. This systematic review was conducted at the Department of Public Health, under the Faculty of Health Sciences of University of Sunderland, United Kingdom (UK) during December 2020 to December 2022.For this study, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of self-medication among COVID-19-affected adults aged 18 and older in South Asian nations The design of this review was completed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA). Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP)-2019 were used to identify the methodological problems in each individual study report. In this systematic review ten qualifying studies were examined with a total of (n=5137) study subjects. Among the study subjects, 2211 (43.04%) COVID 19 afflicted People had enough knowledge of self- medication followed 2001 (38.95%) COVID19 affected people in South Asia had a favorable attitude toward self-medication, 2906 (56.56%) people had performed self-medication and 206 (4.01%) had adverse impacts on their health. Bangladesh and India had the greatest and lowest rates of self-medication, 88.3% and 17.9%, respectively. In addition, the greatest rate of self-medication was seen among medical students in Pakistan (83%). This study investigated that during the COVID-19 Pandemic, self-medication was very common, with over half of the study population engaging in it. Therefore, it is vital to enhance the public awareness about the adverse effects of self-medication without having proper knowledge.