Kalaiselvi Selvaraj|Ganesh Kumar S|Archana Ramalingam
Prevalence of self-medication practices and its associated factors in Urban Puducherry, India
Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research|Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research|Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research
self medication important concern health authorities global level study aimed find prevalence self medication allopathic drugs associated factors among households urban community study also aimed assessing attitude respondents experienced selfmedicationthis crosssectional study done field practice area attached medical institution urban puducherry total 352 subjects 124 households selected random sampling pretested interview schedule information regarding selfmedication use past three months associated sociodemographic factors purpose source drug procurement attitude toward selfmedication use collectedprevalence selfmedication found 119 males age 40 years involving moderate level activity occupation found significantly associated higher selfmedication usage p 005 fever 31 headache 19 abdominal pain 167 common illnesses selfmedication used telling symptoms pharmacist 381 commonest method adopted procure drugs users majority selfmedication users expressed selfmedication harmless 666 going use 90 advice others also 738 use selfmedication drugsselfmedication important health issue area health education public regulation pharmacies may help limiting selfmedication practices