TY  - JOUR
U1  - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed)
A1  - Limaye, Dnyanesh
A1  - Saeed, Farah
A1  - Ahmad, Mansoor
A1  - Pitani, Ravi Shankar
A1  - Fortwengel, Gerhard
T1  - Self-medication practices among university students from Karachi, Pakistan
JF  - International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
N2  - Background: Self-medication, practiced globally is an important public health problem. Research studies have indicated inappropriate self‐medication results in adverse drug reactions, disease masking, antibiotic resistance and wastage of healthcare resources. The objectives of the study were to explore overall self-medication and antibiotic self-medication prevalence among students of university students in Karachi, Pakistan along with probable reasons, indications, and sources of advice for self-medication. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was carried out among students from university of Karachi, Pakistan during the time period of September to November 2016. Pretested questionnaire was distributed to 320 students, collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 24. Results: From 320 students, 311 (83 male and 228 female) students participated in the study giving a response rate of 97%. Prevalence of self-medication was 66%. Belonging to higher monthly family income group was associated with likelihood of self-medication. Antibiotic self-medication prevalence was 39%. Lack of time (39%), and old prescription (35%) were the main reasons for self-medication. Pharmacy shop (75%) was the main source for self-medication. In case of antibiotics, 44% students changed the dosage of antibiotic and 50% students stopped antibiotics after the disappearance of the symptoms. Conclusions: Antibiotic self-medication (39%) and self-medication with other drugs among university students of Karachi is a worrisome problem. Our findings highlight the need for planning interventions to promote the judicious use of general medicines as well as that of antibiotics.
KW  - Self-medication
KW  - Antibiotics
KW  - Antibiotic resistance
KW  - Karachi
KW  - Pakistan
KW  - Students
KW  - Selbstmedikation
KW  - Antibiotikum
KW  - Resistenz
KW  - Student
Y1  - 2017
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:960-opus4-13468
SN  - 2394-6040
SS  - 2394-6040
U6  - https://doi.org/10.25968/opus-1346
DO  - https://doi.org/10.25968/opus-1346
VL  - 2017
IS  - 4(9)
SP  - 3076
EP  - 3081
ER  -