Self-Medication Practices among Business Students in Karachi

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to find out the self-medication practices and its prevalence amongst business students of Karachi. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study and was carried out from Dec 2018 – Dec 2019. Convenient sampling technique was used to obtain data from a Business Institute of Karachi, Pakistan. Data analysis and data management was done using SPSS version 16.0.Results: Prevalence of self-medication practice was obtained to be 81%. The commonest reason for practicing self-medication was past successful consumption of the medicine (46.2%) and avoiding hassle to go to a doctor (43.7%). The commonest complaints that drove students to self-medicate were fever (55.7%), cough (49.2%) and pains (46%). Commonly used medicines were pain killers (73.4%) and fever relieving medicines (41.0%). The major source of obtaining the medicines was community pharmacies (67.6%) by the students. There was no significant association between the demographic factors such as gender and degree program and self-medication (p=0.061, p=0.747 respectively). Conclusion: An 81% high prevalence of self-medication was found among the business university students in Karachi which is alarmingly high, with no significant difference between males and females.