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Revista Cubana de Farmacia

Print version ISSN 0034-7515

Abstract

CASTRO ESPINOSA, Jobany; ARBOLEDA GEOVO, Jhon Fredy  and  SAMBONI NOVOA, Paula Andrea. Prevalence and determinants of self-medication with antibiotics in a community of Santiago de Cali in Colombia. Rev Cubana Farm [online]. 2014, vol.48, n.1, pp.43-54. ISSN 0034-7515.

Introduction: self-medication with antibiotics is performed in a quite irrational way and this in turn can lead to microbial resistance in the future Objective: to establish the prevalence and the determinants of self-medication of the population that purchases antibiotics Methods: a cross-sectional study of the surveys to people who had just purchased antibiotics in drugstores located in community 5 of Santiago de Cali, Colombia. The user was considered as self-medicated if he/she asked for antibiotics although they were not prescribed by a physician. The sample size was estimated at 140 by using Epidat software version 4.0. The selection of the people to be interviewed required a simple random sampling. A multiple logistic regression between self-medication and other variables was applied by using Stata software version 10. Results: in the surveyed group, it was found that Amoxicillin was the most purchased antibiotic (31 %); the most common dosage form was tablets (71 %); the respiratory tract diseases (26 %) were the most common reasons for doctor's appointment and the drugstore seller (49 %) was the one who mainly advised the use of the antibiotics. The prevalence of self-medication was 7 %. It was also observed that the possibility of self-medication among the people who purchase Amoxicillin is 2.4 times higher than that of those who buy another antibiotic (p< 0.05). The opportunity of purchasing Amoxicillin in those people who are advised by the drugstore seller is 2.7 times higher than that of those who are advised by another person, 3.0 times higher for men and 3.1 times higher if the reason for going to the doctor's is a respiratory disease in comparison to other reasons. Conclusions: the results identify the drugstore seller's advice as the main cause of self-medication with amoxicillin to treat respiratory illnesses

Keywords : pharmacoepidemiology; self-medication; antibiotics; determinants.

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