Automedicação em crianças e adolescentes

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of self-medication in children and adolescents in the municipalities of Limeira and Piracicaba, state of São Paulo, and to correlate results with sociodemographic indicators and with the use of health care services (public or private).Methods: Descriptive population-based study of a simple random sample from the two municipalities, comprised of 772 inhabitants from 85 urban census sectors selected through cluster sampling. Inclusion criteria: age ≤ 18 years; interview with one parent/tutor; consumption of at least one drug in the previous 15 days. Subjects were divided into two study groups according to their pattern of drug use: self-medication (lay advice) and medical prescription. Linear association tests, descriptive analysis of variables and multiple logistic regression tests were carried out to analyze data. Results:The prevalence of self-medication was 56.6%. Mothers (51%) and drugstore employees (20.1%) were most frequently responsible for self-medication. The main groups of self-prescribed drugs were: analgesic/antipyretic and non-hormonal anti-inflammatory drugs (52.9%); drugs acting on the respiratory tract (15.4%) and gastrointestinal drugs (9.6%); and systemic antibiotics (8.6%). The situation that most commonly motivated self-medication were respiratory diseases (17.2%), fever (15%), and headache (14%). Subjects in the age group of 7-18 years (odds ratio = 2.81) and public health care users (odds ratio = 1.52) showed increased risk for self-medication. Conclusions:The prevalence of self-medication in children and adolescents was high, which reinforces the need for public health interventions aiming at preventing this practice.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2007;83(5):453-458: Children, adolescents, drugs, self-medication, pharmacoepidemiology.

Use of prescribed and non-prescribed medications among children living in poor areas in the city of Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil

“…The prevalence of use of non-prescribed medication (29.3%) corroborates findings from other studies that this practice is common, irrespective of socioeconomic status 6,23 . The most common group of therapeutic prescribed drugs (systemic antibiotics and antiasthmatics) and the most common non-prescribed drugs (analgesics/antipyretics, antitussives/expectorants and vitamins) were similar to those reported in developed countries and in Brazil 6,15,16,17,23 .…”

“…This figure is lower than the findings of stud-ies carried out in developed countries 1,16 but similar to results found in two cities in the Brazilian state of São Paulo 23 . The prevalence of use of non-prescribed medication (29.3%) corroborates findings from other studies that this practice is common, irrespective of socioeconomic status 6,23 .…”

“…In Brazil, the limited number of comparative studies that exist show that more than 60% of the drugs used in children were indicated by physicians 20,21,22 . However, non-systematic estimates of the prevalence of self-medication among children of different ages in Brazil vary from 7.1 to 56.6% 20,21,22,23 .…”

Responsible self-medication: review of the process of pharmaceutical attendance

“…The physician should always be consulted, either in person (Berardi et al, 2000) or at least by being notified as soon as possible about the intervention performed. However, it is important to note that some studies (Cascaes et al, 2008;Pereira et al, 2007;Osorio de Castro;Paumgartten;Silver, 2004) have shown that, even in special cases, self-medication is a common practice that needs to be streamlined.…”

Uso de medicamentos do nascimento aos dois anos: Coorte de Nascimentos de Pelotas, RS, 2004

“…20 In the current study, mothers accounted for 12.0% of self-medication at 24 months (having increased from 2.6% at three months). Such an increase may indicate that mothers learn and incorporate treatment practices originally recommended by a physician, but which may not always be adequate to the current situation.…”