Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among first-year medical students of the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain. Subjects and Methods: This was an anonymous, questionnaire-based, descriptive study. A prevalidated questionnaire, containing open-ended and close-ended questions, was administered to the subjects. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 12 and the results expressed as counts and percentages. Results: Out of the 134 respondents, 43 (32.1%) were males and 91 (67.9%) were females; their mean age in years ± SD was 18.01 ± 0.78. The respondents’ knowledge about appropriate self-medication was poor, but knowledge of the benefits and risks of self-medication was adequate. The respondents found self-medication to be time-saving, economical, convenient and providing quick relief in common illnesses. Important disadvantages of self-medication mentioned were the risk of making a wrong diagnosis, inappropriate drug use and adverse effects. The majority (76.9%) of the respondents had a positive attitude favoring self-medication. Self-medication was practiced by 44.8% of the subjects. The most common indications for self-medication were to relieve the symptoms of headache (70.9%), cough, cold and sore throat (53.7%), stomachache (32.8%) and fever (29.9%). Analgesics (81.3%) were the most common drugs used for self-medication. The practice of self-medication was appropriate in only 14.2% of cases. Conclusion: Knowledge about appropriate self-medication was poor, attitude towards self-medication was positive, and the practice of self-medication was common and often inappropriate.

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Dissemination of misleading drug information through social media can be detrimental to the health of the public. This study, carried out in Bahrain, evaluated the truthfulness of 22 social media claims about drugs (72.7%), dietary supplements (22.7%), and toxic bisphenol-A (4.5%). They circulated on WhatsApp platform, as case studies. We categorized claims as objectively true, false, or potentially misleading. The content analysis revealed that "potentially misleading" claims were the most frequent messages (59.1%). They tend to exaggerate the efficacy or safety without sufficient evidence to substantiate claims. False claims (27.3%) were likely due to unfair competition or deception. Overall, 13.6% of the messages were objectively true claims that could withstand regulatory scrutiny. Majority of the drug-related messages on social media were potentially misleading or false claims that lacked credible evidence to support them. In the public interest, regulatory authorities should monitor such information disseminated via social media platforms.

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