Abstract

"Introduction: Medication today is rapidly becoming an everyday need for many individuals. Self- medication has contributed to the increase in proportion of individuals taking different drugs during the last decades. Reckless use of medicines poses a threat for both individual health and society. In India, prevalence was estimated to be 31% but there is a wide variation within the country. The aim of this study was to know the practice of self-medication among households of an urban area and the factors contributing to it.
Methods: This study was done based on primary data. Primary data was collected from about 200 households residing in Belagavi. The households were selected using systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected using a predesigned structured oral questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done using Percentages after entering the data in Microsoft excel sheet. The association between self-medication and socio-demographic factors was ascertained using Chi –square test.
Results: The results found that the overall prevalence of self-medication was 35.1%. Paracetamol (90.9%) was the most commonly used drug. Headache (98.6%) and fever (47.1%) were the most common symptoms for the practice of self-medication. Common reason quoted for self-medications was minor illness (78.8%) and sources for self-medication were either previous prescriptions (51.4%) or local pharmacists (25.5%).
Conclusions: One-third of the subjects practiced self-medication. Self-medication was more common among women and the higher socio-economic strata."

Key words: Self-medication, health, prevalence, prescription