Prevalence of Self-Medication and Its Practice Among the Medical and Non-Medical Students

Objective: to determine the prevalence of self-medication among the medical and nonmedical university students of sindh (pakistan). methodology: a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted from aug-sept 2013. a convenient sampling of 400 (50% medical and 50% non-medical) students was done among universities of sindh (pakistan).undergraduate students of age group (18-23) were included whereas postgraduate students,house officers were excluded. data was analyzed using spss (statistical package for the social sciences) version 16. results: frequency of self-medication was found to be 80%. 81% of non-medical and 81% of male students were prone to self-medication. 45% of males and 47% of medical students are aware of the contra indications when compared to females (37%) and non-medical students (33%). 2. 75% of males and 88% of medical students know about the uses of the medicine compared to females (67%) and non-medical students (54%). 39% males and 52% medical students have knowledge of the complications than to the females (38%) and non-medical students (25%). the commonest health problems for which students seek self-medication are headache (40%),fever (19.5%),flu (5.2%) . conclusion: self-medication is significantly high in the educated youth. male and nonmedical students are prone to self-medication. self-medication among males is found to be practiced more among the muslim states. © 2014,liaquat university of medical and health sciences. all rights reserved.