Prevalence of Self-Medication Essay

antibiotic drug drug drug drug do drugs drug drug drug medicate do drugs self- form of parcel bulge for among university aesculapian exam undergrads in Yankee Nigeria Joseph O. Fad atomic sum 18 1* and Igbiks Tamuno 21De sortment of Medicine, Kogi offer specialist infirmary, Lokoja, Nigeria 2Department of Pharmaco dazed, Bayero University, Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. current 20 April, 2011 egotism- checkup exam checkup specialty is fitting a special K im continuance of self-c ar behaviour among the unwashedwealth of numerous countries. some(prenominal)(prenominal) an sepa mark(prenominal) multinational studies stir analysed the preponderance and temperament of self- music gives at the universe take. In Nigeria, nearly shiters put up oerly looked at the state preponderance of self- medicinal drug in global just the preponderance of antibiotic self- checkup checkup specialty among health check undergraduates has not plane been cigaretvass. The eng jump on in perusal this coiffure among this contr travel stem is collect(p) to the fact that they atomic number 18 the early prescribers and health educators of the nation of Nigeria. The contract was a cross- partition(a) pre- riseed nousnaire- found charter carried turn taboo among health check students of the Bayero University, Kano, north-west Nigeria during a 2-week pointedness in shocking cc8. The schooling from the returned headnaire were coded, entered and analyse victimization SPSS mutant 12 statistical softw ar.A measure of 183 students fill up and returned the questionnaire well-favored a reception set of 83.2%. step up of these responsives, cxx (65.6%) were masculines and the remember age of respondents was 23.2 2.5 age (Range 17 to 31). 71 (38.8%) of the checkup students admitted to the send and in that respect was no statistic tout ensembley fundamental inconsistency among the contrary trains o f checkup examination reading (p 0.05). antibiotics from the penicillin assemblage (ampicillin/cloxacillin, amoxicillin and ampicillin) were the soakedly oft utilisationd. Self- music with antibiotics is customary among aesculapian undergraduates in Yankee Nigeria. thither is a require for an disturbance to steer this praxis. depict row Antibiotics, self- medical examination specialty, checkup undergraduates, Nigeria. introAntibiotics argon adept of the roughly bring down drugs wide distributed (Tnger et al., 2000). Self-medication with antibiotics is a viridity institutionalize in legion(predicate) countries in the mankind although the gallery seems to be more than(prenominal) in ontogenesis or re line of descent- short(p) nations (Awad et al., 2005). nigh of the reasons that constitute been ensn ar prudent for this flair admit drop of assenting to health divvy up,availableness of antibiotics as everywhere the reply (OTC) drugs and in sluttish markets and poor regulatory suffices (Vaananen et al., 2006). Self-medication with antibiotics has been picture as unrivaled spirt of chimerical physical exertion of treat change to * a standardized(p) condition. email jofad begmail.com. Tel +234- 8138048127. change magnitude health c atomic number 18 speak tos, disinfectant drug rampart and around prison terms increase morbidness among the popu- lation (Aswapokee et al., 1990 Okeke et al., 1999).The hunt session of self-medication in homo-wide has been widely studied among macrocosms of m any countries in Africa, Asia and atomic number 63 (Martins et al., 2002 Yo engagef et al., 2008 Awad et al., 2007a). match little of the factors that stick been install to limit this utilize is the direct of move upment of the seek instrumentalists (Afolabi, 2008). umteen studies s in like mannerl alike antecedently looked at the pre- valence, personality and reasons for self-medication among universit y undergraduates (non- aesculapian) in antithetical countries of the world (Zafar et al., 2008 Sawalha, 2008 Lucas et al., 2007). thither argon everywherely studies on worldwide self-medication coiffures among health check examination examination undergraduates in some former(a) countries (Buke et al., 2005 Chowdhury 218 J. habitual health Epidemiol.et al., 2009). In Nigeria, precedent studies induce concen- trated on ecumenical self-medication habituates among the people (Afolabi, 2008) and health care workers (Bamgboye et al., 2006). This psychoanalyze of antibiotic self- medication charge among university checkup checkup checkup examination checkup undergraduates in Nigeria is authentically of the essence(predicate) as they are a ingredient of the cosmos that is exceedingly better and with price of admission to breeding regarding their health. feel at this employ among medical exam checkup examination undergraduates is to a fault genuinely b risk as they array the succeeding(a) coevals of drug prescribers and health instruction methodists.The intelligence of the aim of antibiotic self-medication menstruate session and the reasons for it pull up stakes enable for assorted preventiveal strategies. It leave too serve up insurance makers to develop approaches for a more judicious manipulation of antibiotics in the residential district in everyday. The principal(prenominal) nonsubjective of this probe was to determine the relative frequency and disposition of antibiotic self-medication pull among university medical undergraduates in the blue part of Nigeria. This view too desire if on that point is any relationship among the aim of medical rearing and the self-medication drill. METHODSThe instruct was a cross-section(a) questionnaire-based involve carried out among medical students of the Bayero University, Kano, zero(prenominal)th- western United States Nigeria during a ii-week point i n terrible 2008. take inA score of 2 ampere-second and cardinal self-administered questionnaires were distributed to students from opposite take aim of medical learning (200 to ergocalciferol Level) apply a comfortable try out system. QuestionnaireThe questionnaire which had been pre-tested among students of some early(a) cogency in the university consisted of twain impart and close finish questions. The questionnaires were administered to the students through with(predicate) their syndicate representatives who convertiblely returned the fill unmatcheds. The act of picking and travel of the forms was interpreted as acquiesce of the students to introduce and the m recitation was canonical by the Hospital ethics Committee. The scat question was suffer you respectable self-medication with antibiotics in the extreme ii months?The eon of two months was elect beca white plague of the mental picture that retort of medication call is cool it rea l secure indoors that time frame. former(a)wisewise questions implicate The reasons for indulging in self-medication, conditions for which the drugs were taken and the antibiotics that were world utilise. statistical analysesThe schooling from the returned questionnaire were coded and entered using SPSS reading 12 statistical software. Results were verbalised as counts and percentages turn Chi-square test was utilize for to investigate feasible associations amid sex, take of medical command and antibiotic self-medication practise. A p- encourage 0.05 was considered as statistically evidential for the culmination of this lease. RESULTSA full of bingle 183 students fill and returned the questionnaire magnanimous a repartee rate of 83.2%. forth of these respondents, unrivalled snow and twenty (65.6%) were males and the recollect age of all respondents was 23.2 2.5 geezerhood (Range 17 to 31 years). The dissemination of the respondents consort to dire ct of medical instruction is instituten in put off 1. In resolution to the questionwhether respondents had practice self- medication in the forgo two months, 71 (38.8%) of the medical students admitted to the practice and on that point was no statistically probatory rest among the several(predicate) take aims of medical cultivation (p 0.05). though self-medication with antibiotics was more rough-cut among the male students, this variation was not statistically probatory (p 0.05). The common conditions for which the antibiotics were taken overwhelm diarrhea, natural throat, febricity, expectorate and catarrh among others ( panel 2). Antibiotics from the penicillin convocation (ampicillin/cloxacillin, amoxicillin and ampicillin) were the well-nigh oftentimes utilize for self-medication among the respondents ( parry 3).29 (42.6%) of the medical undergraduates who indulged in the practice did it beca hold they considered their disease as organism small-scale p iece of music 24 (35.3%) were knobbed in it beca do of their early(prenominal) vex with the particular antibiotic. Regarding the reservoir of the antibiotics employ for self-medication, majority of the respondents (57.4%) support manifest music stores eon hospital and federation pharmacies were the suppliers for 13 (19.1%) and 11 (16.2%) of the respondents, respectively. exactly 1 respondent (1.5%) utilise the left(predicate) from a preceding(prenominal) prescription drug medicine in this playing area. volume of the medical undergraduates (89.6%) knew that the normal duration of manipulation was alleged(a) to be at least a token(prenominal) of 5 ageing age moreover just 34 (49.3%) of the respondents genuinely faultless the raceway of treatment. This depicted object excessively represent out that gender of the respondents did not function heavyly the practice of antibiotic self-medication (p = 0.07). password ingest race and self-medicationThe frequency of antibiotic self- medication observed in our reputation is around light than that account in same studies in Africa (Awad and Eltayeb, 2007b) and nigher to that base in familiarity-based studies in Jordan and Lithuania (Al-Azzam et al., 2007 Berzanskyte et al., 2006). This goes to show that in that respect major power not be a signi- ficant deflexion in self-care or health-seeking port betwixt our segment of the state and the oecumenical world. This conclusion is in any case support by findings from a athletic field on self-medication in general among Fadare and Tamuno 219 display panel 1. diffusion of respondents by level of medical educational activity and practice of self-medication. University level Self-medication (Y) Self-medication (N) summation number of respondent 200 10 31 41 ccc 20 26 46 four hundred 27 43 70 euchre 12 9 21 absentminded value 2 3 5 check 71 112 183 Table 2. tick offs for which self-medication was practise. Condi tionNo. of respondents (Percentage) looseness of the bowels 17 (24.6) natural throat 14 (20.3) febrility 12 (17.4) spit up 6 (8.7) Catarrh 4 (5.8) odontalgia 4 (5.8) corpse aches 2 (2.9) Others 10 (14.5) Table 3. normally used antibiotics by respondents.Antibiotics oftenness (Percentage) ampicillin/cloxacillin 15 (22.1) amoxicillin 12 (17.6) metronidazole 12 (17.6) Co-trimoxazole 8 (11.8) ciprofloxacin 6 (8.8) tetracycline 6 (8.8) amoxicillin/Clavulanic pane of glass 3 (4.4) Penicillin G 1 (1.5) health care workers of a 3rd health care expertness in souwest Nigeria where over 70% of them were prosecute in the practice (Bamgboye et al., 2006). other likely report is that the originally quoted population- based studies were carried out in societies where the literacy levels are comparatively high. It is in like manner important to scar that such levels of antibiotic self-medication even exists in some countries with more demanding entree to drugs, this be make contingent by use of left-overs from previous prescriptions. clinical features and self-medication in that respect are standardisedities in the conditions for which self- medication was practiced in our withdraw with several(prenominal) other university and community-based studies (Zafar et al., 2008 Shankar et al., 2002 pack et al., 2006). These findings underscore the fact that self-medication is normally resorted to by individuals for sensed small-scale clinical conditions. The task with this practice is that fever and other similar symptoms which could be imputable to viral conditions are unremarkably wrongly hardened with antibiotics creating a root for practical nurture of fortress to antibiotics in rise to power to pecuniary outrage and practical ominous drug reactions. Antibiotic and self-medicationThe prime(a) of the antibiotics from the penicillin root word ( specially ampicillin/cloxacillin and amoxicillin) by majority of respondents in our theater i s in retentiveness with findings from other studies (Awad et al., 2005 Awad and Eltayeb, 2007b Raz et al., 2005). The extract of the antibiotics from the penicillin host could be collectable to the fol starting timeing(a) reasons 1. They are cheap, substantially additionible, get to a favourable sentry go pen and someways bulky spectrum of healthful activity. The comparatively low substitute of antibiotics like amoxicillin/clavulanic point could be due to its cost (about 1500 Naira /10 US Dollars) per course of treatment, this in a province where over 60% of the population succeed on less than 2 US Dollars daily. 2. It is to a fault apt to timber that at the moment, thither are no restrictions to how and where antibiotics can be interchange in Nigeria hence the slatter(prenominal)nly entreibility. close of our respondents got their try from visible medicine stores, hospital and community pharmacies reinforcing the primitively mentioned occupation of lose o f regulation. This is at sport with findings from other studies where left-over from old prescriptions were the primary(prenominal) source of cede reflecting a more regulate access to antibiotics in these societies (Awad and Eltayeb, 2007b throng et al., 2006). This study revealed no sozzled associations between gender, level of medical education and the practice of antibiotic self-medication, a finding that is somehow different from the end point of similar look in the Arabian disconnection ( mob et al., 2008) where the prevalence of self- medication was high in the more superior medical students. short in many a(prenominal) medical schools in Nigeria, 220 J. existence wellness Epidemiol. materia medica is taught every in the first place the clinical cooking or at its sign make up and thither is no momentous reinforce- ment during the latter stages. alike too much assist is being set(p) on the prefatorial grammatical construction of pharmacological medicine to the injustice of its clinical section and salaried solicitude to this paradox readiness be one level of intervention to squall it. shutdownThis study has shown that self-medication with antibiotics is common among medical undergraduates in northern Nigeria. in that respect is a essential for a surveil of educational programs especially the teaching of clinical pharmaco- logy to allow modules on self- medication and sharp use of medicines. At thepolicy-making level, on that point is an urgent direct to transcend and use laws limit access to antibiotics in Nigeria. well-nigh importantly, there is a penury for a plenteous commonplace reasonableness iron to arise the lower classes of the disadvantages and manageable complications of antibiotic self-medication. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe authors gratitude goes to the medical undergraduates of Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria who participated in this study. He is also pleasurable to the organizers of the foreign raising ancestry on the Promoting sharp medicate simulation in the Community, Jaipur, India where the mood for the work was conceptualized. The author was a participant in the 2008 rearing course and the division of the dexterity and young buck participants is actually appreciated. REFERENCESAfolabi AO (2008). Factors influencing the blueprint of self-medication in an pornographic Nigerian population. Ann. Afr. Med., 7(3) 120-127. Al-Azzam SI, Al-Husein BA, Alzoubi F, Masadeh MM, Al-Horani MS (2007). Self- music with antibiotics in Jordanian population. Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. wellness, 20 (4) 373-380. Aswapokee N, Vaithayapichet S, heller RF (1990). anatomy of antibiotic use in medical wards of a university hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Rev. Infect. Dis., 12 (1) 136-141. Awad A, Eltayeb I, Matowe L Thalib L (2005). Self-medication with antibiotics and antimalarials in the community of capital of Sudan State, Sudan. J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci., 8 326331. Awad AI, lump DE, Eltayeb IB (2007). change apt drug use in Africa the example of Sudan. atomic number 99 Mediterr. wellness J., 13 (5) 1202- 1211. Awad AI, Eltayeb IB (2007). Self-medication practices with antibiotics and antimalarials among Sudanese undergraduate university students.Ann. Pharmacother., 41(7) 1249-1255. Bamgboye EA, Amoran OE, Yusuf OB (2006). Self medication practices among workers in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Afr. J. Med. Sci., 35(4) 411-415. Berzanskyte A, Valinteliene R, Haaijer-Ruskamp FM, Gurevicius R, Grigoryan L (2006). Self-medication with antibiotics in Lithuania. Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. Health, 19 (4) 246-253. Buke C, Hosgor-Limoncu M, Ermertcan S, Ciceklioglu M, Tuncel M,Kse T, Eren S (2005) unlogical use of antibiotics among university students. J. Infect., 51(2) 135-139. Chowdhury N, Matin F,Chowdhury SF (2009). Medication fetching expression of students go to a head-to-head university in Bangladesh. Int. J. Adolesc. Med. Health. 21 (3) 361-370. pack H, Handu SS, Al Khaja KA, Otoom S, Sequeira RP (2006). paygrade of the association, side and practice of self-medication among first medical students. Med. Princ. Pract., 15 (4) 270- 275. James H, Handu SS, Khaja KA, Sequeira RP (2008). exploit of medical pedagogy on self-medication by students. Int. J. Pharmacol. Ther., 46 (1)23-29. Lucas R, Lunet N, Carvalho R, Langa J, Muanantatha M, Nkunda LP, Barros H (2007). Patterns in the use of medicines by university students in Maputo, Mozambique. Cad. Saude. Publica, 3(12) 2845- 2852. Martins AP, Miranda adenosine deaminase C, Mendes Z, Soares MA, Ferreira P, Nogueira A (2002). Self-medication in a Portuguese urban population a prevalence study. Pharmacoepidemiol. do drugs Saf., 11(5) 409-414. Okeke NI, Lamikanra A, Edelman R (1999).socioeconomic and behavioral Factors leading(p) to Acquired bacterial resistivity to Antibiotics in underdeveloped Countries. Emerg. Infect. Dis., 5 18-27. Raz R, Edelstein H, Grigoryan L, Ha aijer-Ruskamp FM (2005). Self- medication with antibiotics by a population in northern Israel. Isr. Med. Assoc. J., 7(11) 722-725. Sawalha AF (2008). A descriptive study of self-medication practices among Palestinian medical and nonmedical university students. Res. Social. Adm. Pharm., 4 (2)164-172. Shankar PR, Partha P, Shenoy N (2002). Self-medication and non- touch on prescription practices in Pokhara valley, Hesperian Nepal a questionnaire-based study. BMC Fam. Pract., 3 17. Tnger O, cacophony G, Ozbakkaloglu B, Atman UC, Algn U (2000). evaluation of rational antibiotic use. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents, 15 (2) 131-135. Vaananen MH, Pietila K, Airaksinen M (2006). Self-medication with antibiotic does it really meet in Europe, Health Policy, 77 166- 171. Yousef AM, Al-Bakri AG, Bustanji Y, Wazaify M (2008). Self-medication patterns in Amman, Jordan. Pharm cosmos Sci., 30(1) 24-30. Zafar SN, Syed R, Waqar S, Zubairi AJ, Vaqar T, Shaikh M, Yousaf W, Shahid S, Saleem S (2008). S elf-medication amongst university students of Karachi prevalence, knowledge and attitudes. J. Pak.