Publication:

Assessment of parents induced self-medication in paediatric population in rural and urban areas of Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Background Self-medication is termed as administration of medications by care-givers without medical consultation. It includes several forms through which the individual themselves or the ones responsible for them decide, without medical evaluation, which drug they will use and in which way for the symptomatic relief and cure of a condition. Objectives of the study was to estimate the overall prevalence of parents induced self-medication, to identify the most commonly used drugs and the reasons of self-medications in rural and urban areas of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Methods This is community based observational cross sectional study was conducted over a period of four months in urban and rural areas of district Ahmedabad under the field practice area of AMC MET Medical College and Sheth LG General Hospital, district Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The study population included children from 5-15 years. The data was collected from the care giver/parents of the children through a pre-validated questionnaire.

Results Prevalence of self-medication was 86.14%. Most common illness for which self- medication was done was fever in 84 children (22.16%) followed by acidity in 72 children (18.99%). Commonly used drugs were antipyretics, antibiotics and oral rehydration therapy. Previous prescription was used by most of them to procure the drugs and previous experience on efficacy was the most common reason cited.

Conclusions In this study, the prevalence of parents induced self-medication is quite high. There is a need to strengthen public education regarding self- medication, by mass media and local government authorities.