Abstract
Purpose : To evaluate the practice of self-medication and evaluate the knowledge of rational use of antibiotics among undergraduate students of University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Method : A cross-sectional, recall study was conducted among the university student population who practice self-medication in the study location. Stratified, random sampling technique was used to distribute 246 questionnaires in eight faculties of the institution. The response rate was 71%, and 175 completed questionnaires were analyzed to determine significant differences and correlation with different variables. Results : A majority of the study sample were females (54%), aged 23 - 25 years (46.9%). The most frequently used antibiotic was amoxicillin (95.4%). Common cold with fever was the disease condition treated by a large majority (84.9%). Knowledge on dose, frequency, duration and side-effects of antibiotics among students was moderate, with a mean value of 58.3%. There was a significant difference in knowledge on antibiotics between health science and non-health science students although no significant difference was observed in knowledge with respect to gender, academic year and family income. Conclusion : Antibiotic consumption was associated with students’ academic background. This study highlights the need for interventions to assure rational use of antibiotics. Keywords : Antibiotics, Self-medication, Rational use, Undergraduate students, Awareness
Highlights
Self-medication implies rapid and direct access to treatment as well as self-involvement of an individual in relieving minor ailments [1]
It has been evident with a study conducted by Wolffers in 1987 that practice of self-medication exists in Sri Lankan community for a long time, irrespective of the legal framework which prohibits dispensing antibiotics without prescription [18,19].A previous report from University of Peradeniya in 2012 highlights the self-medication practices among 250 undergraduate students in Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dental Sciences, and Veterinary Science [20]
Amoxicillin (95.4 %) was the most frequently consumed antibiotics by self- medication practices [17,20,25]. This creates a possible threatening situation for the development of resistance to Amoxicillin. This can be aggravated with the fact that common cold and fever, which are symptoms of viral diseases was mostly treated with antibiotics agents (84.9%), only 7.4% of the participants mentioned that common cold and fever was not supposed to be treated by antibiotics as these symptoms were due to viral infection
Summary
Self-medication implies rapid and direct access to treatment as well as self-involvement of an individual in relieving minor ailments [1]. Global tendency is observed to use antibiotics without a proper prescription such that it is estimated that more than 50 % of antibiotics are purchased without a proper prescription [17]. It has been evident with a study conducted by Wolffers in 1987 that practice of self-medication exists in Sri Lankan community for a long time, irrespective of the legal framework which prohibits dispensing antibiotics without prescription [18,19].A previous report from University of Peradeniya in 2012 highlights the self-medication practices among 250 undergraduate students in Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dental Sciences, and Veterinary Science [20].
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