Self medication among university students of Karachi

Objective: to find out frequency of self medication among university student of karachi pakistan. methodology: a cross sectional study was conducted between july - august 2008. for the purpose 207 students from 2 universities of karachi,one medical and one non-medical were selected through non-probability convenience sampling. data was collected through self administered questionnaire,analyzed using spss v 10. result: among 207 participants',103 were students of karachi university while 104 were studying at dow university. mean age was 22 years and male: female ratio was 1:4. frequency of self medication was found to be 80.4%. the most common reason for not consulting the doctor was problem not serious & the most common symptoms when self medication sought were headache (62.3%) and fever (49.8%). the 62% participants' knew that self medication could be harmful. conclusion: frequency of self medication was high in educated youth despite the fact that majority found aware of its harmful effects. there is need to revisit the definition and relative significance of 'self-medication' in our local setting.