Malli IA, Hubayni RA, Marie AM, Alzahrani DY, Khshwry EI, Aldahhas RA, Khan RF, Zaidi SF. The prevalence of self-medication and its associated factors among college students: Cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia.
Prev Med Rep 2023;
36:102457. [PMID:
37869536 PMCID:
PMC10589874 DOI:
10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102457]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 10/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
Self-medication with OTC or prescription drugs is widespread, may impair health, and leads to microbial resistance. Self-medication treats symptoms without a prescription. Self-medication is common among students across disciplines. Thus, this study evaluates medical and non-medical students' self-medication prevalence, knowledge, and variables.
Methods
352 people completed a verified 25-item online questionnaire from September 5 to November 17, 2021. Self-medication and demographic characteristics such as gender, professional college, and family income were examined using a chi-square test of independence.
Results
210 (59.6 %) participants were from the College of Medicine, and 142 (40.34 %) were from other professional health colleges. Health professional students self-medicated 55.9 %. This research found substantial connections between self-medication knowledge, gender, and family income. With a p-value of 0.0001, 32 % of women agreed that self-medication is safe, compared to 15.8 % of men. Female students were more likely than boys (61.9 % vs 38.1 %, p-value = 0.0291) to self-medicate as their initial therapy. Family income was also related to self-medication; 69.6 % of low-income pupils self-medicated to reduce doctor visits, p-value = 0.0477.
Conclusion
Students of all majors self-medicate. Medical students were more informed about generic drug safety and administration. There were substantial unfavorable sentiments regarding self-medication, highlighting the need for educational health activities to raise student understanding of its risks.
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