A survey of the impact of clinical pharmacists in identifying the risk factors of selfmedication practices among the elderly in Bhopal

Doi: https://doi.org/10.55522/ijti.V2I1.0024

Abstract

The use of a product to prevent or treat an illness or symptom in order to promote health without a prescription or medical supervision is known as self-medication. Economic, political, and cultural variables have led to the use of self-medication, which is now a significant global public health issue. The study aimed to determine the characteristics that increase the probability of older people self-medicating, based on the clinical pharmacist's impact. It is an observational, cross-sectional, prospective study conducted inside a community. Our study set out to examine the risk factors associated with elderly people's habits of self-medication. Numerous studies have demonstrated that self-medication is widespread globally. In this study, the prevalence of self-medication is 84.21%, indicating high practices and were Studies among university students from Serbia (79.9%), Nepal (81.9%), and South Western Nigeria (91.4%) have revealed similar prevalence rates. Self-medication among the elderly is about 10% in the current study, although it is about 16.9% in previous reports. Fever and headaches were the most common complaints associated with self-medication activities, followed by coughs (22.63%), discomfort, and chills (14.73%). In this study, the most commonly utilized pharmaceutical classes for self-medication were analgesics (24%), antipyretics (21%), and anti-bacterials (15%). Previous experience is the most common reason given by study participants for their self-medication habits. The study found that the majority of participants (90%) self-medicated, and that the most common conditions for those who did so were fever, headaches, infections, etc. The most commonly used drug classes self-medicated were analgesics (24%), anti-pyretics (21%), and antibiotics (15%).