Prevalence of self-medication in adolescents

Abstract

Introduction Self-medication by definition is the use of over-the-counter medications, in which the patient or his / her caregiver decides which drug to use, in order to treat or relieve symptoms. Self-medication is considered one of the health risk behaviours found among adolescents. Objectives The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-medication for adolescents enrolled in the 10th and 12th year of the High School/3 Dra Maria Cândida - Mira and the Lima-de-Faria High School – Cantanhede in the 2018/2019 school year. Methodology A questionnaire was handled and processed with statistical program, version 24.0 SPSS. This study is based on the correlational descriptive type with cross cohort. The study took place on the school year of 2018/2019 and the data acquisition took place over the course of 2 months. Results The sample comprised 421 adolescents, of whom 344 (81.7%) already tried self-medication in some way or form and 278 (66.0%) did that in the last 6 months. The main health problems that motivated self-medication were headache (62.5%), the flu (57.5%), sore throat (45.6%) and fever (44.4%). Analgesics/antipyretics were the most consumed drugs (71%) followed by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (66.0%). The Pharmacy (71.7%) was the preferred place to purchase drugs; however, 222 adolescents (52.7%) reported having medicines at home. Of the adolescents who resort to self-medication, 59.6% sought additional information or clarification of the drug, referring to the package leaflet as the main source (43.2%). Of these, 59.9% revealed that they are aware of the risks that the drugs taking may cause. Conclusion It was observed that self-medication is very common in adolescents, making it important to carry out more studies in Portugal and its population, on this practice, due to studies scarcity. These data can be used to define strategies for the dissemination of the rational use of the drug in adolescent population.