Dataset Information

The prevalence of self-medication and its associated factors among college students: Cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Self-medication with OTC or prescription drugs is widespread, may impair health, and leads to microbial resistance. Self-medication treats symptoms without a prescription. Self-medication is common among students across disciplines. Thus, this study evaluates medical and non-medical students' self-medication prevalence, knowledge, and variables.

Methods

352 people completed a verified 25-item online questionnaire from September 5 to November 17, 2021. Self-medication and demographic characteristics such as gender, professional college, and family income were examined using a chi-square test of independence.

Results

210 (59.6 %) participants were from the College of Medicine, and 142 (40.34 %) were from other professional health colleges. Health professional students self-medicated 55.9 %. This research found substantial connections between self-medication knowledge, gender, and family income. With a p-value of 0.0001, 32 % of women agreed that self-medication is safe, compared to 15.8 % of men. Female students were more likely than boys (61.9 % vs 38.1 %, p-value = 0.0291) to self-medicate as their initial therapy. Family income was also related to self-medication; 69.6 % of low-income pupils self-medicated to reduce doctor visits, p-value = 0.0477.

Conclusion

Students of all majors self-medicate. Medical students were more informed about generic drug safety and administration. There were substantial unfavorable sentiments regarding self-medication, highlighting the need for educational health activities to raise student understanding of its risks.

SUBMITTER: Malli IA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10589874 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The prevalence of self-medication and its associated factors among college students: Cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia.

Malli Israa Abdullah IA Hubayni Rahaf Ahmed RA Marie Amirah Mohammed AM Alzahrani Dhaii Yahya DY Khshwry Elaf Ismeal EI Aldahhas Raghad Abdulmohsen RA Khan Rahaf Fayez RF Zaidi Syed Faisal SF

Preventive medicine reports 20231009

<h4>Background</h4>Self-medication with OTC or prescription drugs is widespread, may impair health, and leads to microbial resistance. Self-medication treats symptoms without a prescription. Self-medication is common among students across disciplines. Thus, this study evaluates medical and non-medical students' self-medication prevalence, knowledge, and variables.<h4>Methods</h4>352 people completed a verified 25-item online questionnaire from September 5 to November 17, 2021. Self-medication an ...[more]

PMID: 37869536

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Project description:Background: Self-medication is an important issue for health authorities around the world. It is also a common practice among university students. Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of and reasons for self-medication among university students. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional community based survey design was adopted for the current study. All the students enrolled in Hail University, Saudi Arabia were selected to include in the study. Data was collected from February to April 2020 using a validated questionnaire and were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 22.0. Using convenient sampling technique, the total sample size calculated was 370 participants. A descriptive analysis was performed. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression was used for analyzing the data where statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: A total of 373 participants completed the questionnaire. The response rate was 84%. The overall prevalence of self-medication among the students was 98.2%. Of the 373 participants, 40.8% were men, and 59.2% were women. Furthermore, 56% were in fields other than health sciences, 23.1% were in preparatory foundation courses, and 20.9% were from the health and medical sciences. The most frequent medical condition that led to self-medication was headaches (92.85%), followed by coughs (37.5%), colic (31.9%) and influenza (30.3%). On univariate analysis, it is revealed that for both abdominal colic [OR 0.54 (0.34-0.86), p = 0.01] and constipation [OR 0.57 (0.32-1.02), p 0.05], female gender was observed significantly with low prevalence than male. However, for influenza, the self-medication prevalence [OR 1.86 (1.19-2.91), p = 0.006] observed was significantly higher in female participants than male. A significant association (p = 0.011) between the self-medication factors and gender was shown in the current study results. Conclusion: An alarming prevalence of self-medication among the students was recorded. Health care providers can increase awareness of the issue by educating individuals about the harmful effects of irresponsible self-medication.

Project description:BackgroundHypertension is a chronic condition that represents a global burden across the world. The burden of hypertension is found to be particularly high in Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. This study was undertaken to measure the prevalence of hypertension and its associated factors. An assessment of the impact of hypertension is required to alleviate/reduce the comorbidities and complications associated with hypertension in Saudi Arabia.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 14,239 individuals in Saudi Arabia. A valid and reliable questionnaire was administered after randomly selecting study participants from 48 primary healthcare centers. Univariate analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between independent variables and hypertension. P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Multivariate logistic regression was used to establish the major associated factors of hypertension among Saudi citizens. A 95% confidence interval (CI) was presented for each of the adjusted odds ratios (AORs).ResultsIt was found that 11.1% of research participants reported having hypertension. Compared to younger participants of < 50 years, those who are 50 to 75 years old are two times more likely to be hypertensive (AOR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.68, 2.50). Compared to employed Saudi residents, unemployed residents were 1.43 times more likely to be hypertensive (AOR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.25, 1.65). The odds of hypertension were higher by 1.73 times among obese than non-obese individuals (95% CI: 1.33, 2.25). Individuals with heart disease were 3.72 times more likely to suffer from hypertension than individuals without heart disease (95% CI: 2.84, 4.88). Similarly, those with high cholesterol levels were 8.37 times more likely to have hypertension than those with low cholesterol levels (95% CI: 6.94, 10.09). Diabetic individuals were 10.45 times more likely to develop hypertension than non-diabetic individuals (95% CI: 8,87, 12.30).ConclusionThe prevalence of hypertension found in the current study was 11.1%. Older age, unemployment, insurance coverage, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood cholesterol were associated with high blood pressure in this study. The findings of this study suggest that researchers and policymakers should target modifiable risk factors to reduce the burden of hypertension among Saudi residents.

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Project description:IntroductionDuring the last two decades, several studies have been published regarding the prevalence of tobacco smoking among college students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This systematic review and meta-analysis is intended to determine and examine the smoking prevalence in Saudi college students from 2010-2018.MethodsPubMed, Science Direct, APA PsycNET, Web of Science, and CINAHL were used to search for published articles reporting the smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. After eliminating irrelevant articles, investigators independently assessed the quality of each article, based on Russell & Gregory guidelines. MetaXL software was used to calculate the pooled prevalence among included studies, using the IVhert model. Heterogeneity among the included studies was evaluated, using I2 statistic. Sensitivity analyses were conducted between male and female genders.ResultsOf the 295 published articles, 29 articles used a cross-sectional design to determine smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. Most of the studies were conducted in Riyadh at health-science-related colleges; the rest were performed in different cities and colleges. The meta-analysis showed that the pooled estimate of smoking prevalence among college students in the KSA was 17% (95% CI: 11-23%). Saudi male students had a prevalence rate of 26% (95% CI: 24-29%), whereas for Saudi female students the prevalence was 5% (95% CI: 3-7%).ConclusionsSmoking among Saudi college students was higher than in the majority of regional countries (e.g. Iran). Saudi male students had a higher smoking prevalence than Saudi female college students. Additionally, studies that reported a high prevalence targeted students in specific disciplines. Public health authorities in the KSA should develop a surveillance system that monitors the prevalence of tobacco smoking on campuses. A surveillance system of monitoring tobacco use among Saudi college students could be beneficial in determining the degree of the tobacco problem and in improving current tobacco control programs.

Dataset Information

The prevalence of self-medication and its associated factors among college students: Cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

The prevalence of self-medication and its associated factors among college students: Cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia.

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