Background: The drugs used for self-medication can have both unwanted and beneficial effects. Self-medication if used inappropriately can result in adverse effects, increased antibiotic resistance, resources wastage, drug interactions, and ill health. Among adolescent females, dysmenorrhea is one of the most common clinical conditions which effects their daily activities, physical, and emotional well-being. Furthermore, it impacts negatively on their academic activities and quality of life. Therefore, practice of self-medication is very common in primary dysmenorrhea.
Aims and Objectives: The aim of study is to access and evaluate practice of self-medication among medical students on primary dysmenorrhea.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based and cross-sectional study was conducted and female medical students of age group between 20 and 25 years were selected. A pre-validated 15 points questionnaire was used to assess the features and pain severity of dysmenorrhea. The results were taken by utilizing descriptive statistics.
Results: In this study, total numbers of participants were 70 students. Dysmenorrhea was experienced in 80.02% of participants with mild degree (31.21%), moderate degree (29.29%), and with severe degree (19.7%) of dysmenorrhea. In this study, 57.34% of participants preferred for self-medication. The participants commonly used a combination of dicyclomine and mefenamic acid (68.78%) which is fixed dose combination. Medical consultation was sought only in 12.44% and 9.3% students used household remedies.
Conclusion: The dysmenorrhea was common in students and they commonly practiced self-medication with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. There is need to emphasize the significance of creating awareness within students regarding adverse effects of drugs.
Key words: Self-medication; Dysmenorrhea; Awareness; Adverse Drug Reaction; Students
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