Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Aim: To determine the self-medication pattern among children. Methods: This study was conducted in the department of Pediatrics after obtaining due approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee; Bhima Bhoi Medical college & Hospital, a tertiary care teaching hospital of Western Odisha. All children from one month to fourteen years who attended the OPD were deemed eligible. Demographic and clinical characteristics were presented as frequencies and percentages. The prevalence of self-medication was represented as a percentage with a 95% confidence range. The Pearson chi-square test was used to examine the relationship between demographic characteristics and outcome variables, and a p-value less than 0.05 was deemed significant. Results: Out of the 400 children in the research, 130 had received self-medication from caregivers in the previous month, implying a 32.5 percent prevalence of self-medication. Fever was the most prevalent ailment for which self-medication was used in 320 children (80%), followed by cough and cold in 248 children (62 percent). Paracetamol was the most widely used drug, with 272 youngsters using it (68 percent). Cough and cold medicine was taken by 100 children (25%), while antibiotics were utilized by 90 children (22.5 percent) The average number of drugs utilized per patient was 1.6.
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4283372693