Patient's Knowledge and Use of Oral Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in a Rheumatology Clinic

We evaluated the knowledge of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) including their dosage, side effects, contraindications, and drug interactions among the patients in an outpatient rheumatology clinic.

Patients in a rheumatology clinic completed a short survey assessing their knowledge of over-the-counter NSAIDs.

The survey was provided to 400 participants and 275 (68.5%) were using over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs. The majority of the participants identified their commonly used NSAID. Almost a third were unaware of the contraindication of NSAIDs such as peptic ulcer disease, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension. Nearly 53.9% participants denied having any discussion of OTC medications with their providers. Two-thirds of the respondents reported seeing only the medication packaging for the dose determination (67.8%).

The gap in patient knowledge of the potential side effects and the lack of discussion of OTC medications by the providers may be predisposing the patients to preventable side effects from NSAIDs.