Self-medication with analgesics in rheumatology: Frequency and associated factors

Analgesics are commonly used to relieve pain, but their consumption requires vigilance due to the possibility of interactions and the occurrence of adverse side effects from misuse however, they are often self-medicated.

to determine the frequency of self-medication with analgesics in the rheumatology setting and its associated factors.

In this context, we conducted a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study, concerning 150 patients followed at the rheumatology department of the Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis, from March 2023 to June 2023.

The average age of patients was 51 years with extremes ranging from 15 to 82 years, with a female predominance. Concerning the pathologies for which our patients were followed in rheumatology, 81 patients had inflammatory pathologies and 69 patients with degenerative pathologies. Rheumatoid arthritiswas the most frequent pathology. The average pain using the visual analog scale (VAS) ranged from 5 to 8. Self-medication was a very common practice in our population with a prevalence of 60.7%. Paracetamol was the most used molecule (39%), followed by NSAIDs (38%). Only 10 patients (6,7%) reported learning about the drug before self-medication. Factors that were significantly associated with self-medication were: older age (p=0,02), female sex (p=0,05), high pain score (p=0,01), unemployment (p=0,003), and the presence of degenerative pathology (p<0,001).

Self-medication was a very common practice in our population and health professionals must be aware of its frequency, in order to educate patients and promote responsible self-medication behaviors.