Introduction: Self-medication is an increasingly frequent phenomenon worldwide; some studies suggest that there is a relationship with socio-economic and cultural factors. Objective: To determine the prevalence of self-medication and its related factors in a Colombian city. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study, in Pereira, Colombia. We selected 414 adults using simple randomization sampling with houses used as the observational unit. The IRIS-AM instrument was used to collect the information required. Results: Four hundred and fourteen (414) people were interviewed, 62.6% were females, and mean age was 44 years; 77.5% of the sample had self-medicated at least once in their life and 31.9% during the last month. The most commonly used medications were: analgesics and antipyretics (44.3%), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-rheumatic medication (36.4%), and anti-histamine medication (8.5%). The most commonly self-medicated symptoms were: headache (55.7%), cold (16.2%) and muscular pain (13.2%). Multivariate analysis revealed an association between self-medication throughout life and storing medications at home, and between a high level of education and having a favorable opinion of self-medication. Storing medications at home and recommending them to others were associated with self-medication during the previous 30 days. Conclusion: Self-medication rates were found to be similar to those reported globally, but there is not an established pattern for this practice. Associations were found between social and demographic variables and self-medication, which require further characterization. Intention to self-medicate has not been well-described in other studies, and may be an important indicator which will contribute to future understanding of this phenomenon.

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The results of this study show that there are no significant statistical differences in adherence when comparing human with analogue insulin therapy. Strategies to improve treatment adherence are particularly important since they improve the clinical results.

Introduction:The prescription and costs of antiulcer medications for in-hospital use have increased during recent years with reported inadequate use and underused.Aim: To determine the patterns of prescription-indication and also perform an economic analysis of the overcost caused by the non-justified use of antiulcer medications in a third level hospital in Colombia.Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study of prescription-indication of antiulcer medications for patients hospitalized in "Hospital Universitario San Jorge" of Pereira during July of 2012. Adequate or inadequate prescription of the first antiulcer medication prescribed was determined as well as for others prescribed during the hospital stay, supported by clinical practice guidelines from the Zaragoza I sector workgroup, clinical guidelines from the Australian Health Department, and finally the American College of Gastroenterology Criteria for stress ulcer prophylaxis. Daily defined dose per bed/day was used, as well as the cost for 100 beds/day and the cost of each bed/drug. A multivariate analysis was carried out using SPSS 21.0.Results: 778 patients were analyzed, 435 men (55.9 %) and 343 women, mean age 56.6 ± 20.1 years. The number of patients without justification for the prescription of the first antiulcer medication was 377 (48.5 %), and during the whole in-hospital time it was 336 (43.2 %). Ranitidine was the most used medication, in 438 patients (56.3 %). The cost/month for poorly justified antiulcer medications was € 3,335.6. The annual estimated cost for inadequate prescriptions of antiulcer medications was € 16,770.0 per 100 beds.Conclusion: A lower inadequate prescription rate of antiulcer medications was identified compared with other studies; however it was still high and is troubling because of the major costs that these inadequate prescriptions generates for the institution.

RESUMENCon el objetivo de determinar la frecuencia de uso prolongado de antiinflamatorios no esteroideos (AINES) en pacientes colombianos de alto riesgo cardiovascular (ARC) se desarrolló un estudio retrospectivo en el cual se identificaron pacientes de ARC que usaron AINES por más de cinco meses continuos entre enero de 2011 y marzo de 2013. Se identificó a los pacientes que recibían crónicamente nitratos, digitálicos, y clopidogrel y ácido acetil salicílico (ASA), quienes fueron identificados como de ARC. Se realizó un análisis de frecuencias de uso según la comedicación recibida. Se encontró uso concomitante de AINES en el 0,35% de los consumidores de nitratos (tiempo promedio: 9,5 ± 4,4 meses), en el 0,36% de los consumidores de clopidogrel y ASA (tiempo promedio: 9,3 ± 3,4 meses), y en el 0,4% de los consumidores de digitálicos (10,2 ± 4,6 meses). Se concluye que existe una baja proporción de uso de AINES de manera crónica en pacientes de alto riesgo cardiovascular. PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE USE OF NON-STEROID ANTIINFLAMATORY DRUGS IN HIGH-RISK CARDIOVASCULAR PATIENTS AbstractIn order to determine the frequency of extended use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) in Colombian patients with high cardiovascular risk (HCVR), a retrospective study was developed which identified HCVR patients who used NSAID for over five continuous months from January 2011 and March 2013. Patients chronically receiving nitrates, digitalis and clopidogrel and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), known as HCVR, were identified. An analysis of the frequencies of use based on the co-medication received was performed. Concomitant use of NSAID was found in 0,35% of consumers of nitrates (average time: 9,5 ± 4,4 months), in 0,36% of consumers of clopidogrel and ASA (average time: 9,3 ± 3,4 months), and in 0,4% of consumers of digitalis (10,2 ± 4,6 months). It is concluded that there is a low proportion of chronic use of NSAID in high-risk cardiovascular patients.Key words: Cardiovascular diseases; Anti-Inflammatory agents, non-steroidal; Pharmacoepidemiology; Pharmacovigilance; Colombia (source: MeSH NLM). INTRODUCCIÓNAl formular una prescripción médica se debe tomar en cuenta las características clínicas del paciente, las comorbilidades y la comedicación que se pueda estar generando, para determinar los riesgos más importantes a los que se pueda estar sometido al paciente (1,2) . Este riesgo se incrementa cuando no se cuenta con prescripción médica alguna. Varía, evidentemente, con cada fármaco empleado. Se ha estimado que cerca del 70% de los pacientes mayores de 65 años usan con frecuencia algún antiinflamatorio no esteroideos (AINES), bajo prescripción médica o sin ella (3,4) . El uso de AINES ha sido ampliamente discutido por sus efectos adversos tanto cardiovasculares como gastrointestinales (3) .Los AINES se han asociado a reacciones adversas importantes, siendo las más frecuentes las de tipo gastrointestinal, aunque es cada vez más común encontrar complicaciones cardiovasculares como eventos tromboembólicos, inf...