SELF-MEDICATION AMONG DOWNTOWN URBAN POPULATION OF KARACHI, PAKISTAN

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence and associated factors of self-medication among urban downtown population of Karachi. METHOD: Study conducted among 2626 participants using random sampling. It was a cross sectional study, conducting in a time span of 14 months from November 2013 till January 2015. A detailed questionnaire was designed to collect the data from urban population of downtown area of Karachi. RESULT: Overall 68.1% of participants practice self-medication which is prevalent among 25 to 35 years of age group. Self-medication was significantly associated with age, gender, residence and socioeconomic status. 66.7% participants were males and 33.3% were females. 69.5% of participants were uneducated having no education,12% having primary education,7.5% have attended Madarsas, 6% matric and 5% having college education. Most common complain reported by self medicators were Pain 56.4%, Flu/Fever 21.3%, Colic 8%, Diarrhea 10.3%, allergies 4%. Most of the participants in our study (64.7%) reported allopathic system as most trusted medicinal system. Few people showed trust on homeopathic (18%), Unani system (12%) and Home remedies (5.3%). The general population perceives homeopathy and ayurvedic medication as their own system based on natural constituents and house hold remedies. Paracetamol was reported as most common analgesic used (33.9%) followed by Aspirin/Brufen (20.7%) reported by the mentioned consumers. Day time commonly asked medicine were Pain killers (58%) and sleeping preparations (62.6%) are commonly asked in night time. Common medical problems found in females were Anemia (33%), Ca/Vit D Deficiency (31%), Low blood pressure (29%). Common medical problems found in males were High blood pressure (41.6%), Back ache (28%), Skin Infections (19.7%) etc. Common medical problems in children’s were Chest Infections (41.7%) and Diarrhea (29.3%) and Malnutrition (18.4). In conclusion self medication is increasing in all age groups and many people are using this term wrongly through self diagnosis which is a serious problem.