Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh

Introduction Self-medication, the unsolicited use of prescription and over the counter (OTC) drugs, is practised all over the world, particularly in countries like Bangladesh. So, this study is focused on the prevalence and attitude and knowledge about various aspects of self-medication with painki...

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Main Authors: Sarker, Rumpa, Moonajilin, M Sabrina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/1/235-Article%20Text-1402-1-10-20200413.pdf
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author Sarker, Rumpa
Moonajilin, M Sabrina
author_facet Sarker, Rumpa
Moonajilin, M Sabrina
author_sort Sarker, Rumpa
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction Self-medication, the unsolicited use of prescription and over the counter (OTC) drugs, is practised all over the world, particularly in countries like Bangladesh. So, this study is focused on the prevalence and attitude and knowledge about various aspects of self-medication with painkillers among students of the selected residential university of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods It is a cross-sectional interview-based study. The study population was the students of the university who lives in attached residential halls. The total number of respondents was 209. Results Every respondent both male (105) and female (104) have reported that they had practiced self-medication with painkillers for their both acute and chronic pain like headache, menstrual cramp, back/muscle/joint pain etc. Drugs commonly used by the students were Napa (19.6%), Paracetamol (12.9%), Etorix (6.2%), ACE (10.0%) HPR ds (10.0%), Rolac (9.6%) etc. Many of the drugs were non-OTC drugs. The main sources of information were advised by the manager of the pharmacy (36.8%), self-decision (16.7%), media (12.0%) and advice from friends/relatives (23.0%). The prime factors that influenced students to try self -medicated painkillers were dissatisfaction toward the medical centre in the area (23.9%), cost-effectiveness (20.6%), unavailability of medical facilities (11.5%) etc. 64 of the respondents (both M & F) reported that they have no clear idea about the possible side effects of the chronic use of painkillers. Dependency on a painkiller for pain management was (M=32 and F=48). Conclusions 41% of students taking a self-medicated painkiller with analgesics in an emergency perceive it as safe.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:153112020-10-02T08:36:12Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/ Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh Sarker, Rumpa Moonajilin, M Sabrina Introduction Self-medication, the unsolicited use of prescription and over the counter (OTC) drugs, is practised all over the world, particularly in countries like Bangladesh. So, this study is focused on the prevalence and attitude and knowledge about various aspects of self-medication with painkillers among students of the selected residential university of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods It is a cross-sectional interview-based study. The study population was the students of the university who lives in attached residential halls. The total number of respondents was 209. Results Every respondent both male (105) and female (104) have reported that they had practiced self-medication with painkillers for their both acute and chronic pain like headache, menstrual cramp, back/muscle/joint pain etc. Drugs commonly used by the students were Napa (19.6%), Paracetamol (12.9%), Etorix (6.2%), ACE (10.0%) HPR ds (10.0%), Rolac (9.6%) etc. Many of the drugs were non-OTC drugs. The main sources of information were advised by the manager of the pharmacy (36.8%), self-decision (16.7%), media (12.0%) and advice from friends/relatives (23.0%). The prime factors that influenced students to try self -medicated painkillers were dissatisfaction toward the medical centre in the area (23.9%), cost-effectiveness (20.6%), unavailability of medical facilities (11.5%) etc. 64 of the respondents (both M & F) reported that they have no clear idea about the possible side effects of the chronic use of painkillers. Dependency on a painkiller for pain management was (M=32 and F=48). Conclusions 41% of students taking a self-medicated painkiller with analgesics in an emergency perceive it as safe. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/1/235-Article%20Text-1402-1-10-20200413.pdf Sarker, Rumpa and Moonajilin, M Sabrina (2020) Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh. International Journal of Public Health Research, 10 (1). pp. 1174-1182. ISSN 2232-0245 http://spaj.ukm.my/ijphr/index.php/ijphr/issue/view/26
spellingShingle Sarker, Rumpa
Moonajilin, M Sabrina
Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh
title Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh
title_full Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh
title_fullStr Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh
title_short Knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, Bangladesh
title_sort knowledge, attitude & practice of self-medication with painkillers among young adults, bangladesh
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15311/1/235-Article%20Text-1402-1-10-20200413.pdf