Estimation of self - medication practices among rural Kanchipuram, India

Background: Interest in self-care, poor economic conditions,health-seekingbehavior, socio-cultural factors, ignorance, excessive advertisement on drugs and availability of drugs in other than medical shops are responsible for the practice of Self-Medication. Aim and objectives: To find out prevalence of Self-Medication practice among rural people in Kanchipuram and to find out possible reasons for Self-Medication and factors influencing self-medication practice. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was done in five randomly selected villages in the field practice area of MMCH&RI. After getting informed consent, the questionnaire was administered to 250 households randomly. Results: Among 250 households surveyed, 47.6% (119) respondents were in the age group of 20-40 years, 56.8% (142) were females and 51.2% (128) households belong to the poor socio-economic class. The prevalence of self-medication in the sample was 58.4% (146). Younger age, higher educational status, and higher socioeconomic status were associated with higher prevalence. In this study, the main reason given for self-medication practice was the poor quality of care in Government hospitals (32.9%) followed by 26% of subjects said they treat themselves for similar illness from previous experience etc. The common symptoms for taking self-medication were fever (39.8%) and headache (23.45%). Majority of them (74%) kept the medicines in closet and few (15.2%) kept in bags. Commonly taken medicines are fever relieving drugs (39.04%) and cough syrups (28.08%). Adverse drug effects which were commonly encountered due to self-medication are gastritis (39.04%), rash and swelling (29.45%), sedation (15.06%) and increase in symptom (16.43%). Among the people who took painkillers, 59% of them experienced gastritis. Conclusion: Increased prevalence of self-medication even among rural people may lead to consequences such as drug interactions, drug dependence and drug resistance due to irrational use of drugs and causes increased morbidity.