Volume 26, Issue 127, September 2022

Prevalence of self-medication among students of Umm Al-Qura and Al-Baha Universities in Saudi Arabia

Mahdi H. Alsugoor^1♦, Naif Alsuhaymi¹, Yousef Alshahrani², Yahya H. Alsagoor³, Atheer M. Alghamdi³, Samer M. Alalawi⁴, Shadi B. Alalawi⁴, Fahad A. Alothayqi⁴, Mohammed M. Alamri⁴, Ashraf A. Ewis⁵

¹Department of Emergency Medical Services, College of Health SciencesAlQunfudah, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
²Department of Clinical Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
³Medical intern, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia
⁴Emergency medical services intern, College of Health SciencesAlQunfudah, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
⁵Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences-AlQunfudah, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, Department of Emergency Medical Services, College of Health Sciences-AlQunfudah, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Self-medication is defined as the self-administration of medication based on self-diagnosis without visiting a physician or having a prescription and is a public health concern with potentially harmful consequences. Our study aimed to explore patterns of self-medication among medical and non-medical students at Umm Al-Qura and Al-Baha Universities in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: An online, self-administered, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted via Google Forms for 3 weeks among students at Umm Al-Qura and Al-Baha Universities. Results: Out of the 418 students who responded to the questionnaire, 74.2% were practicing self-medication. The use of painkillers was significantly different among both the medical (40.4%) and non-medical students (61.5%). As for reasons to practice self-medication, time savings (40.3%) mild symptoms (20.0%), previous experience (14.8%), and financial reasons (14.5%) were the most common, with the flu symptoms (23.9%) and headache (23.5%) being the most reported symptoms treated by self-medication. Conclusions: Self-medication is a widespread practice among medical and non-medical students at Umm Al-Qura and Al-Baha Universities which needs to be mitigated by health education and effective preventive and interventional policies.

Keywords: Self-medication, Antibiotics, Painkillers, Medical students, Nonmedical students, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms388e2461

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i127/ms388e2461

Published: 29 September 2022