Aspects regarding self-medication among students

Abstract

Introduction. Self-medication represents the process of administering substances for physical or psychological symptoms, without the advice of a phyisician. At the population level, studies show that the prevalence of self-medication is high among young adults due to the level of education, accessibility to Internet services, as well as knowledge regarding medicines, being a common problem among students, especially students from the healthcare sector. Aim of the study. This study evaluates the prevalence, practices and attitudine towards selfmedication of the students from the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș. Materials and methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 403 students (87,6% female, 12,3% male) from the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș. The respondents were 1st to 6th year students from the Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Faculty of Pharmacy. The participants responded to an online 23 questions survey which included informations regarding demographics, self-medication practices and attitude towards self-treatment. Results. Self-medication was highly popular among students, 94,5% of the respondents claimed that they used self-medication. The most common factors that led to the decision of self-treatment were: the positive experience with a medication used in the past (76,9%), urgent condition (33,6%) and self-confidence regarding own medical competences (32,8%). Headache (81,9%), menstrual symptoms (73,5%) and fever (64,57%) were the most frequently described symptoms. The most commonly used drugs were anti-inflammatory drugs (85,3%), analgetics and antipiretics (83,46%), vitamins and supplements (68,77%) and laxatives/antidiarrheal medicines (46,72%). Most of the students (83,4%) claim that they are against self-medication, but it can still be used in certain situations, while only 2,2% were completely against self-medication. Conclusions. Self-medication is a common practice and its occurrence is tremendously high among students. However, the attitude of the students towards self-treatment was mainly negative, according to them, this could only be used in specific situations.