[Investigation on self-medication: from disease to performance]

Self-medication is widely practised and could be defined as taking drugs without the advice of a physician. The present survey documented self-medication users' profile and their drug-taking behaviour.

prospective study by self-report questionnaire.

600 residents of the Meurthe et Moselle subdivision (eastern France), ranging in age from 15 to 85 years, including 288 males and 312 females.

use and impressions of self-medication, based on the subjects' own experience.

questionnaires were coded and put on computer. The data were analysed and compared by chi-square and analysis of variance. Statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05.

313 subjects (52.2 per cent) reported having used self-medication. The three main motives for this practice were: headache (46.9 per cent), nose, throat or respiratory tract diseases (22.1 per cent) and abdominal pain (7.3 per cent). Self-use of drugs usually involved left-over past prescribed treatment (76 per cent), or were bought without the advice of a pharmacist (28 per cent). The self-medication user tends to be a woman, ranging in age from 20 to 39 years, living in a marital relationship and resident in an urban zone. The behaviours leading to self-medication were studied. Five groups are described, probably associated with five different attitudes towards self-medication. One of them shows subjects who essentially use drugs not to treat a disease but to enhance their performance.