Prevalence and Determinants of Over-the-Counter Analgesics Usage among Patients attending Primary Health Care Centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and describe the pattern of OTC use among patients attending primary healthcare (PHC) centers, and to assess their knowledge and attitude regarding the related side effects. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 400 adult patients attending the General Medicine clinic in 10 selected PHC centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The data collected included socioeconomic parameters, practice and pattern of OTC analgesics use in past 6 months, knowledge and attitude about OTC analgesics, and safety assessment. Results: Results showed that 84.4% of the participants were using OTC analgesics, at least twice per week in 59.3% of the cases, and for <1 week duration in 65.8%. The prevalence of use was highest among illiterate and highly educated participants (p=0.000), and those with moderate income (p=0.011). Acetaminophen (paracetamol) was the most frequently used drug (86.1%), followed by ibuprofen (25.1%) and diclofenac (14.7%); and headache (71.1%), arthralgia (17.7%) and toothache (17.4%) were the most common conditions leading to usage. A simple health problem (64.0%), previous experience with the drug (35.1%) and lack of time (12.1%) were the most common reasons for OTC analgesics use. Among all, 58.1% admitted having no knowledge about OTC analgesic side effects; while 7.1% reported having experienced side effects. Conclusion: There is an alarming prevalence of OTC analgesics use among patients, with inadequate levels of awareness about the associated risks. Awareness and knowledge of users should be further investigated to determine the need for information for this specific or a larger population.Key words: Analgesics, Auto medication, Non-steroid anti-inflammatory, Over-the-counter, Painkiller, Paracetamol. Key MessageThere is high prevalence of OTC analgesics usage combined with low levels of awareness and knowledge about the related hazards; which exposes to misusage that may carry accidents and severe side effects especially among the high-risk populations. The lack of awareness and knowledge highlights the need for targeted information.

Self medication practices of over the counter analgesic drugs among medical students in a tertiary care hospital in Jharkhand, India

“…18 In Saudi people also, the most common indication for analgesic was headache. In Jeddah, the next common indication was arthralgia whereas menstrual pain was the second most common indication as found in study done by Karami et al 6,12 About 43.18% of girls were using these analgesics for menstrual pain. Probably they know that for dysmenorrhea these NSAIDS are very effective drugs.…”

“…Regarding reason for self medication, our finding is similar to findings in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Madhya Pradesh and Nellore, India. 2,6,11,14 One study done in Pokhara, Nepal showed that the most common reason for self medication was -it is time saving (45.5%). 1 This data is very low in our study (6.21%).…”

“…5 But when such drugs are used in appropriate dosage, then only they are safe. 6 Commonly two types of analgesics have been used by people for any kind of pain-non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and narcotic analgesics. 7 NSAIDS are widely used analgesic drugs.…”

“…11 Prevalence of self medication was found to vary in medical students of different countries in earlier studies. [6][7][8]12 Approximately 98% of the study population among Palestinian medical and non medical university students reported that they do practice self medication. 13 Various data are available regarding the usage of OTC analgesics in different states of India.…”

Elsayed A Usage and Knowledge of the Over- the- Counter Medicines Among Patient Visiting Ophthalmic Hospital in Wad Medani, Sudan

“…However, they were lacking the concept of safe usage of OTC drugs. Studies conducted in Saudi Arabia indicated that 58.1% of participants did not know the side effects of analgesics and most people lack knowledge about the appropriate dose of them [11,12]. A work done by the Academic Pediatrics in the USA to evaluate and compare knowledge and literacy of OTC medications among middle and high students illustrated that only 8% of the students responded correctly to side effects questions compared to 67% did not know [13].…”