Characteristics and factors associated with self-medication due to COVID-19 in students of a Peruvian University
Revista Cubana de Farmacia
; 55(1), 2022.
Article
in Spanish
| EMBASE | ID: covidwho-1820621
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
The university population may be vulnerable to self-medication due to COVID-19 due to their greater exposure to social networks and their tendency to imitate self-medication practices of their social environment.Objective:
Assess the characteristics and factors associated with self-medication due to COVID-19 in undergraduate university students of a Peruvian university.Methods:
An analytical cross-sectional study (October 1st to November 14, 2020) in which 166 surveys were analyzed among students of the National University of Central Peru selected through a probabilistic sampling stratified by faculties. The factors associated with self-medication were evaluated by Poisson regression of robust variances, in this way the prevalence ratios and corresponding confidence intervals were obtained.Results:
14.5% of the students self-medicated due to COVID-19 and the main reasons were sore throat (45.8%), fever (37.5%) and disease prevention (29.2%). The most commonly used drugs were paracetamol (70.8%), aspirin (62.5%) and influenza drugs (62.5%). Some participants (20.8%) reported experiencing side effects after taking medications such as aspirin, ivermectin, dexamethasone, and chlorine dioxide. The perception that self-medication is harmful to health (PR 0.41;CI 0.20-0.84) and having doctors as a source of drug information (PR 0.46;CI 0.21-0.99) were associated with self-medication due to COVID-19. Approximately 15 out of every 100 students in the studied population self-medicated due to COVID-19. Likewise, those who perceived self-medication as harmful to health and who had doctors as a source of drug information self-medicated less.Conclusions:
The results allow us to characterize the problem of self-medication due to COVID-19 in university students, while offering information for the approach of strategies that reduce its negative impact.
adult; adverse drug reaction; article; controlled study; coronavirus disease 2019; cross-sectional study; drug information; female; fever; human; influenza; major clinical study; male; perception; Peru; Poisson regression; prevalence ratio; prophylaxis; self medication; side effect; sore throat; university student; acetylsalicylic acid; chlorine dioxide; dexamethasone; ivermectin; paracetamol
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Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
EMBASE
Language:
Spanish
Journal:
Revista Cubana de Farmacia
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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