self-medication during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in north central of morocco: prevalence, causes, and associated factors

Background: self-medication is a significant public health problem that negatively affects human health. many moroccans have turned to this practice as a form of prevention or treatment for the newly emerged coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) worldwide. objectives: this study is the first research conducted in morocco in the context of this pandemic, aiming to explore the prevalence, sources of information, causes, and risk factors of self-medication during the pandemic period. methods: a cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted in the city of meknes (north central of morocco) from march 2022 to june 2022 to investigate the level of self-medication practices before and during the covid-19 pandemic. results: the survey included 400 respondents from the general population (mean age = 34.97 ± 15.8 years). the self-medication rate was obtained as 291 (72.75%). there was a statistically significant decrease in the number of respondents practicing self-medication during covid-19 compared to the pre-pandemic period. most medications used for self-medication to prevent or treat covid-19 were supplements such as vitamin c (81.10%) and zinc (74.91%), followed by acetaminophen (72.51%) and herbal products (69.41%). in the bivariate logistic regression model, age, gender, education level, self-reported health, sector of activity, and medical insurance were analyzed. multivariate analyses showed that the youngest age group (≤ 30 years) (odds ratio (or) = 1.59; 95% confidence interval (ci): 0.96 - 2.78), university education (or = 1.47; 95% ci: 0.87 - 2.99), and better self-reported health (or = 2.83; 95% ci: 1.43 - 3.71) were independently associated with self-medication. conclusions: self-medication was a serious health concern in morocco during the covid-19 pandemic. this study will be of great interest to the authorities in order to develop new pandemic management strategies, particularly self-medication awareness programs.