Abstract

LOPEZ-CABRA, Claudia Alejandra et al. Self-medication in medical students at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogota D. C., Colombia. Rev. colomb. cienc. quim. farm. [online]. 2016, vol.45, n.3, pp.374-384. ISSN 0034-7418.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcciquifa.v45n3.62018.

Introduction. Self-medication is a common public health problem among students, mainly among medical students who have greater knowledge in pharmacology. We consider that it is important to establish the magnitude of the problem in future prescribers. Materials and methods. We performed a cross-sectional study through a survey of 276 medical students. We analyzed demographic data, medical history, habits, frequency of this behavior, drugs used as self-treatment, percentage of self-medication, reasons for self-medication and knowledge about this behavior. Results. Of the 276 surveys 270 were analyzed. We found a prevalence of 79.3% self-medication. The only associated factor with higher statistical significance was students who were in clinical practice (p = 0.020). Drugs that were mostly used were: acetaminophen (10.8%) and ibuprofen (3.9%). 70.6% of the mentioned drugs require a medical prescription. Most frequent reasons were: headache (10.64%), common cold (4.20%) and dysmenorrhea (3.37%). Only 39.1% of respondents met criteria for responsible self-medication. Conclusion. Prevalence of self-medication among medical students is high. Most of used drugs need a medical prescription. The factor influencing this behavior is the year of medical school to which they belong. Self-medication is mostly found when students are in clinical practice. Most students do not self-medicate responsibly.

Keywords : Self medication; Prevalence; medical student; pharmacoepidemiology; non prescription drugs.

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