Drug-related problems associated with self-medication and medication guided by prescription: A pharmacy-based survey

The objective of this study is to identify and compare the nature of the drug-related problems (DRPs) associated with self-medication and non-self-medication (drug use guided by a prescription).

The cross-sectional, observational study was conducted on 1100 adult participants at a convenience sample of six retail private pharmacy counters. The data collection form was based on the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe version 6.2 classification for DRPs. Descriptive statistics was used to represent the prevalence of DRPs. Chi-square test was used to find out the association between the type of medication and DRPs. Odds ratio (OR) with confidence interval (CI) was computed to find the factors determining the occurrence of DRPs. P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.

The prevalence of self-medication was 18.72%. The prevalence of DRPs was 17.36%. In the self-medication group, the prevalence of DRPs was high (40.78%) as compared to the non-self-medication group (11.97%). DRP related to inappropriate drug dosing was observed in 44.83% and 40.45% subjects in self-medication and non-self-medication group, respectively (P < 0.001). The subjects in the self-medication group were about 5 times likely to have a DRP (OR: 5.06, CI: 3.59-7.14, P < 0.001).

Self-medication is associated with a higher risk of various DRPs. Since retail pharmacy outlet is often the first point of contact between the patient and the health care system in a developing country, interventions like drug information activities at the retail pharmacy is likely to bring down the DRPs associated with self-medication.