Knowledge and behavior of Saudi female university students towards self-medication

Joint Event on 3^rd International Conference on General Practice & Primary Care & 24^th International Conference on Dental Public Health & Dental Hygiene

August 16-17, 2018 Madrid, Spain

Hanan Alahmed, Eman M Almussaed and Shereen Younes

Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, KSA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Gen Pract

Abstract :

Background: Self-medication is considered a fairly common practice worldwide. A recent study in the UK showed that an estimated of 20% of the population choose to self-diagnose themselves versus seeking medical advice. It has a harmful side, since it might lead to wasting of resources, development resistance, drugs reactions or dependency, misdiagnosis, accidental overdoses and addiction development. Objectives & Methods: To estimate prevalence of self-medication among university students, determine the population background, assess the most common symptoms and most commonly used drug categories and analyze the population experience with self-medication and health care services. Cross-sectional based study conducted to university students aged 18-26 through a self administered questionnaire to collect the data from all college students with no exception over six months. Results: A total sample size of 500 students, their mean age was from 25-21, most of them were from science faculty 191 (38.8%), bachelor level of education was the most 416 (83.2%), single students made the mass of the study 461 (92.2%). A 413 (82.6%) of total 500 have tried self-medication, 189(37.8%) choose drugs, most common used was Analgesic 227(45.4%), the most frequent symptoms was stomach pain and headache 150 (30%), 145 (29%) took the medication from their relatives, there was illness improvement among most of them 363 (72.6%), while least 21(4.2%) went to ER due to it. Most of the responses regarding health care system were positive. Conclusion: We found that self-medication practice is highly prevalent in our university, even though most results of their treatment was improving, the 4% who went to ER is enough indicator that this act is dangerous and thus we need to do more awareness activities regarding it.

Biography :

E-mail: hanan2294@gmail.com