RESUMENObjetivo. La automedicación es una práctica común en diferentes sociedades que puede tener importantes implicaciones sanitarias. Esta práctica ha sido poco estudiada hasta ahora en población universitaria española. Nuestro objetivo es cuantificar esta actividad y estudiar los factores asociados a la misma. Material y método. Se diseñó y facilitó un cuestionario para su autocumplimentación a una muestra de población universitaria. Se evaluó el impacto de tres variables principales sobre la automedicación: sexo, estudios sanitarios y hábitos de información sobre medicamentos. Se emplearon en el análisis los test de Chi Cuadrado, junto a técnicas de regresión logística. Resultados. La práctica de automedicación fue confirmada en el 90,8% de los 501 individuos que contestaron correctamente la encuesta. Esta práctica fue significativamente más frecuente en mujeres. El grupo de medicamentos más frecuentemente consumido fueron los analgésicos/antiinflamatorios (consumidos por el 73% de los automedicadores). Las mujeres consumieron significativamente más anticatarrales (OR = 1,70), mientras que los hombres consumieron más antibióticos (OR = 1,88). Los individuos con hábitos de información sobre medicamentos presentaron un menor consumo de antibióticos (OR = 2,15). Conclusiones. La práctica de la automedicación es elevada en población universitaria valenciana y mayor de la reportada anteriormente en nuestro país. El sexo y los hábitos de información están asociados a la automedicación en determinados grupos de medicamentos. Palabras clave. Automedicación, Estudiantes, Universidad. ABSTRACTStudy on self-medication in the Spanish university population Aims. Self-medication is a common behaviour that can have serious effects on health. This practice has been little studied in Spanish university population. Our aim is to assess the importance of this behaviour and to study its associated factors. Material and methods. A self-completed questionnaire was designed and administered to a sample of Spanish university students. The impact of sex, type of studies and drug information habits was assessed. Chi-square and logistic regression models were undertaken. Results. Self-medication was confirmed in 90.8% of the 501 individuals that correctly answered the questionnaire. This practice was significantly more common among women. The analgesic/anti-inflammatory group of drugs was the most frequently consumed (73% of self-medicators). Women significantly consumed more anticatarrhals (OR=1.70), whereas antibiotics were more consumed by men (OR=1.88). Furthermore, individuals with good drug information habits had less antibiotic consumption (OR=2.15). Conclusions. Self-medication is a very common habit in Valencian university population, and is the highest reported to date in our country. Sex and drug information habits are associated with self-medication in some groups of drugs. Key words. Self Medication, Students, University. INTRODUCCIÓNLa automedicación puede ser definida de forma genérica como la administración por decisió...

The concept of avoidable cause of death serves as the basis for measuring the quality and diversity of a health care system. In this study the authors propose a new way to use this kind of mortality by combining with the concept of life expectancy to obtain what they call "life expectancy free of avoidable mortality" (LEFAM). This indicator was 76.9 in 1986 in Spain while life expectancy was 75.83. If these deaths were avoidable there would be a gain of 1.09 years per person born. There is an important difference between the would-be male gain of 1.76 years and the would-be female gain of 0.6. In the ecological study, LEFAM would better explain the year to year changes of the resources in the health sector, measured in terms of the human resources (R = 0.96), the hospital beds per thousand persons (R = -0.86), and would also increase the relation with other health indicators such as infant mortality rate (R = 0.98) and mortality rate (R = 0.59) as compared with life expectancy alone.

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