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[Self-medication profile in a city of south Brazil]
J F Vilarino1, I C Soares, C M da Silveira
1Departamento de Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, RS-Brasil.
Objective:
The characterization of drug users, especially as regards self-medication and the determination of its prevalence in the population studied.
Material And Method:
About 413 people that had used drugs in the previous month were interviewed.
Results:
From the interviewed, 69.9% used medicines and of those 76.1% were self medicated. Headache (28.8%) was the main complaint among the self-medicated group. Acetilsalicilic acid was the most frequently used medicine (25.4%). As regards the drugs utilized, 51.2% of the users had received a recommendation from a third party and 51.7% used old prescriptions, given in previous consultations.
Conclusion:
Age, schooling and absence of periodic medical consultation were significant statistical factors in self-medication.