[Self-medication in children by parents: a real risk? A cross-sectional descriptive study]

Self-medication is a common practice in France. What is parent's behaviour towards their children? Trying to draw an inventory of this practice, we carried out a survey of self-medication of children under 12 years of age by their parents. The main objective was to assess the frequency of self-medication and the secondary purposes were to describe habits, dangerous behaviours and common mistakes. The results speak for themselves: 96% of parents self-medicate their children, very early, between 6 and 24 months, mostly for mild pathologies; 39% believe they are taking a risk doing it; most frequently used medecines are paracetamol and ibubrofene; 55% of them make a mistake when self-medicating their children (21% combine two brands of paracetamol or two anti-inflammatories, 10% swap pipettes...). Mistakes revealed by this study could be the bases of an education program for parents displayed by GPs and health care workers.