Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to estimate the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in King Khalid University Hospital population and evaluate the factors affecting this behavior.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at King Khalid university hospital from April to May 2016. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was handed to a random selection of 519 patients attending the primary care clinics. Data were entered into Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and sent to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were applied.
RESULTS: The prevalence rate of self-medication with antibiotics was 40.8%. Older patients and males were most likely to use antibiotics without a prescription. The most common illnesses that made patients use antibiotics was upper respiratory tract infections (73.2%). Commercial pharmacies were the major source 82.8%. Only 27.8% patients consulted their physicians for the correct dosage. The previous experience with a similar illness (67.2%) and difficulty in obtaining medical help (29.3%) were the most common reasons for self-administration of antibiotics. Improved health condition (57.8%) was the main reason for stopping the use of antibiotics while lack of improvement in health status led to a shift to another antibiotic in 62.5% of the respondents.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of using antibiotics without a prescription is relatively high. Proper education of the public on the dangers of the misuse of antibiotics through the media might help to reduce this practice.