Prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics and associated factors in the community of Asmara, Eritrea: a descriptive cross sectional survey

作者：Yonatan Ateshim, Batseba Bereket, Feruz Major, Youel Emun, Biruck Woldai, Ismail Pasha, Eyasu Habte, Mulugeta Russom · 发表于：BMC Public Health · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1186/s12889-019-7020-x · 被引用次数：131 · 研究领域：Antibiotic Use and Resistance、Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts、Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Development of drug resistance caused by self-medication with antibiotics, can be seen as one of the growing global threats. Self-medication is defined as the selection and use of medicines by individuals to treat self-recognized illnesses or symptoms. The purpose of this study is to assess the practice of self-medication with antibiotics and associated factors among the community of Asmara, Eritrea. METHODS: This was a community based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in 16 selected sub-districts of Asmara from September to November 2017. A Two-stage cluster sampling was employed to select study sites and participants. Data was collected in a face to face interview with a structured questionnaire and entered to CSPro version 6.2. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation and logistic regression were executed using SPSS version 22. RESULTS: A total of 580 study participants were recruited with a response rate of 99.5% (N = 577). The prevalence of Self-medication with antibiotics (SMA) in this study was found to be 45.1% [95% CI (40.5, 49.6)] and majority of them practiced once or twice in a period of 12 months. The main reasons for SMA were previous successful experience (34.4%) and the illness being 'not serious enough to seek medical care' (25.7%). Of those who self-medicated, 84.1% of used amoxicillin at least once. Wound infection (17.9%) and sore throat (13.9%) were the most self-recognized complaints that required self-medication. Antibiotics were s...