Self-Medication among Adults in Minia, Egypt: A Cross Sectional Community-Based Study

Abstract

Self-medication may be associated with side effects and increases the chance of drug interactions and also affects the adherence to treatment and quality of life. This study aims at determining the pattern of self-medication, identifying knowledge, attitude and self-reported practices concerning the usage of the drugs and identifying demographic factors that could influence self-medication practices among the general population in El-Minia, Egypt. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 randomly selected adults using a multi-stage random sampling technique. Data were collected by using a structured interview questionnaire. Respondents who had practiced some sort of self-medication during the past month were 73% of the sample. The commonest cause of self-medication, illness, was perceived as minor (59.7%). The most common perceived illness for self-medication was common cold (90.6%). Older respondents (>40 years) were about twice more likely to practice self-medication than younger ones. Similarly, professionals in their work were 3.4 times more likely to practice self-medication than unemployed individuals. Self-medication is a relatively frequent problem in Minia and interventions at different levels are required.