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Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES: Self-medication (SM) means using drugs to treat self-diagnosed diseases or symptoms. Despite its important role in reducing the load on medical services, it may bear many risks. This study aims to determine the prevalence of SM and its determinants among adult inpatients of Damascus Hosp...

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Autores principales: Abdelwahed, Rawan N. K., Jassem, Manaf, Alyousbashi, Ayham
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9256391/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35800339
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/9274610
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author Abdelwahed, Rawan N. K.
Jassem, Manaf
Alyousbashi, Ayham
author_facet Abdelwahed, Rawan N. K.
Jassem, Manaf
Alyousbashi, Ayham
author_sort Abdelwahed, Rawan N. K.
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Self-medication (SM) means using drugs to treat self-diagnosed diseases or symptoms. Despite its important role in reducing the load on medical services, it may bear many risks. This study aims to determine the prevalence of SM and its determinants among adult inpatients of Damascus Hospital, Syria. Study design. Cross-sectional study. METHODS: 453 adult inpatients were asked to complete a questionnaire through face-to-face interviews. Data were analysed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). A chi-square test was used to detect correlation between variables. RESULTS: Out of 453 respondents, 67.3% practiced self-medication. Most used drugs were analgesics, antipyretics, and antibiotics. The main indications for SM included headache, cough/flu, and body aches. Pharmacists were the main source of knowledge about the drugs used in SM. The leading reason for practicing SM was the mildness of the complaint. Approximately half of the participants declared they read leaflets of drugs they used in SM. In this study, SM was significantly associated with monthly income, age, and living place. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of SM in Damascus Hospital is high. Larger, nationwide studies are needed to identify the prevalence and determining factors of SM in Syria and to suggest the appropriate measures to control this phenomenon.
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spelling pubmed-92563912022-07-06 Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study Abdelwahed, Rawan N. K. Jassem, Manaf Alyousbashi, Ayham J Environ Public Health Research Article OBJECTIVES: Self-medication (SM) means using drugs to treat self-diagnosed diseases or symptoms. Despite its important role in reducing the load on medical services, it may bear many risks. This study aims to determine the prevalence of SM and its determinants among adult inpatients of Damascus Hospital, Syria. Study design. Cross-sectional study. METHODS: 453 adult inpatients were asked to complete a questionnaire through face-to-face interviews. Data were analysed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). A chi-square test was used to detect correlation between variables. RESULTS: Out of 453 respondents, 67.3% practiced self-medication. Most used drugs were analgesics, antipyretics, and antibiotics. The main indications for SM included headache, cough/flu, and body aches. Pharmacists were the main source of knowledge about the drugs used in SM. The leading reason for practicing SM was the mildness of the complaint. Approximately half of the participants declared they read leaflets of drugs they used in SM. In this study, SM was significantly associated with monthly income, age, and living place. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of SM in Damascus Hospital is high. Larger, nationwide studies are needed to identify the prevalence and determining factors of SM in Syria and to suggest the appropriate measures to control this phenomenon. Hindawi 2022-06-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9256391/ /pubmed/35800339 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/9274610 Text en Copyright © 2022 Rawan N. K. Abdelwahed et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Abdelwahed, Rawan N. K.
Jassem, Manaf
Alyousbashi, Ayham
Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
title Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Self-Medication Practices, Prevalence, and Associated Factors among Syrian Adult Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort self-medication practices, prevalence, and associated factors among syrian adult patients: a cross-sectional study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9256391/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35800339
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/9274610
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