Patterns and predictors of self-medication in northern Uganda

Self-medication with antimicrobial agents is a common form of self-care among patients globally with the prevalence and nature differing from country to country. Here we assessed the prevalence and predictors of antimicrobial self-medication in post-conflict northern Uganda. A cross-sectional study...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-03, Vol.9 (3), p.e92323-e92323
Main Authors: Ocan, Moses, Bwanga, Freddie, Bbosa, Godfrey S, Bagenda, Danstan, Waako, Paul, Ogwal-Okeng, Jasper, Obua, Celestino
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Amoxicillin
Amoxicillin - therapeutic use
Analysis
Anti-Infective Agents - therapeutic use
Antibiotics
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
Antimicrobial agents
Appetite loss
Artemisinins - therapeutic use
Cotrimoxazole
Cross-Sectional Studies
Data processing
Decision making
Developing countries
Disease control
Displaced persons
Drug Combinations
Drug Resistance
Drug self-administration
Drugs
Ethanolamines - therapeutic use
Female
Fever
Fluorenes - therapeutic use
Headache
Health care
Health care facilities
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health sciences
Households
Humans
LDCs
Male
Masking
Medical research
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metronidazole
Metronidazole - therapeutic use
Pharmacology
Population
Prescription drugs
Research and Analysis Methods
Risk management
Rural areas
Sample size
Sampling methods
Self Care
Self care (Health)
Self Medication
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tablets
Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination - therapeutic use
Uganda
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Summary:Self-medication with antimicrobial agents is a common form of self-care among patients globally with the prevalence and nature differing from country to country. Here we assessed the prevalence and predictors of antimicrobial self-medication in post-conflict northern Uganda. A cross-sectional study was carried out using structured interviews on 892 adult (≥18 years) participants. Information on drug name, prescriber, source, cost, quantity of drug obtained, and drug use was collected. Households were randomly selected using multistage cluster sampling method. One respondent who reported having an illness within three months in each household was recruited. In each household, information was obtained from only one adult individual. Data was analyzed using STATA at 95% level of significance. The study found that a high proportion (75.7%) of the respondents practiced antimicrobial self-medication. Fever, headache, lack of appetite and body weakness were the disease symptoms most treated through self-medication (30.3%). The commonly self-medicated antimicrobials were coartem (27.3%), amoxicillin (21.7%), metronidazole (12.3%), and cotrimoxazole (11.6%). Drug use among respondents was mainly initiated by self-prescription (46.5%) and drug shop attendants (57.6%). On average, participants obtained 13.9±8.8 (95%CI: 12.6-13.8) tablets/capsules of antimicrobial drugs from drug shops and drugs were used for an average of 3.7±2.8 days (95%CI: 3.3-3.5). Over half (68.2%) of the respondents would recommend self-medication to another sick person. A high proportion (76%) of respondents reported that antimicrobial self-medication had associated risks such as wastage of money (42.1%), drug resistance (33.2%), and masking symptoms of underlying disease (15.5%). Predictors of self-medication with antimicrobial agents included gender, drug knowledge, drug leaflets, advice from friends, previous experience, long waiting time, and distance to the health facility. Despite knowledge of associated risks, use of self-medication with antimicrobial drugs in management of disease symptoms is a common practice in post-conflict northern Uganda.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0092323