فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

CONTEXT: Inappropriate self‑medication can increase chances of adverse drug reactions, diseaseaggravation, or drug interactions. Analgesics are most commonly used as self‑medication.AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare analgesic self‑medication practices amongmedical and paramedical undergraduate students of a tertiary care teaching institute in Central India.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional, observational study was conducted in 216undergraduate medical (MBBS and BDS) and paramedical (occupational therapy/physiotherapyand BSc nursing) students. A predesigned, self‑developed, semi‑structured questionnaire was used.STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The Chi‑square test was used for testing statistical significance.RESULTS: The overall prevalence of self‑medication with analgesics was 83.33%. Self‑medicationwas significantly high among medical students as compared to paramedical students (P = 0.003).Significantly more medical students were aware about adverse drug reactions of analgesics ascompared to paramedical students (P = 0.019). The most common source of information aboutdrugs was previous prescription (58.33%), followed by media including the Internet (53.70%). Themost dominant symptom compelling self‑medication was found to be muscular pain (42.12%),followed by headache (36.57%). 54.16% of the students revealed that self‑medication providesquick relief from pain. The most commonly used analgesic was paracetamol (82.40%), followedby diclofenac (22.68%). A significant number of paramedical students do not know exactly whatprecautions should be taken while taking analgesics (P = 0.002).CONCLUSIONS: Medical students are more indulged in self‑medication practices with analgesics.Paramedical students need to be educated regarding safe use of analgesics.