Abstract :
Introduction: Improper self-medication of Over the Counter (OTC) drugs and /or drugs from earlier prescription may result in adverse drug reactions and /or serious drug interactions with co-administered alternate system of drugs. Information on self-medication practices, the factors influencing such practices and incidence of ADRs associated with self-medication among the residents of Puducherry is not available.
Aim: To study the prevalence of self-medication among the residents of Puducherry and to determine the factors that influences the pattern of self-medication.
Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire based study, was carried out using a pretested validated questionnaire on self-medication practices on a randomly selected population of adult residents of Puducherry.
Results: Among the 380 participants who responded by answering to the questionnaire, 34.5% were males and 65.5% were females. Mean age of the respondents was 36.4±11.7 yrs. approximately 59.5% of the respondents self-medicated with allopathic drugs. The frequency of self-medication by the respondents ranged from once (31.3%) to more than 5 times (11.1%) in the past six months recall period. Statistically significant association was found between occupation and self-medication (p
Keyword :
Prescription drugs, expiry date, adverse drug reactions, alternate system of drugs